“The Ukrainians are telling us: ‘Help us to hold out in 2024
and in 2025 we will be able to relaunch an offensive,’” says a French official
who recently spoke with the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine requires more than just air defense systems; it
needs missiles, the source said. The European manufacturer MBDA, however, is
currently unable to fulfill additional missile orders in the short term,
despite governmental pressure, the publication said.
“The first to mobilize wins,” said a French military source.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia wants to take decisive action,
the material indicates.
Ukrainian society is showing signs of war fatigue, which
seems hopeless, even when crucial matters are at stake, the newspaper said.
The Kremlin regime in Russia is inclined to sidestep
unpopular decisions, fearing internal opposition, the material said.
Ukraine’s new counteroffensive
If the situation on the battlefield is stabilized, Ukraine will be able to arm and train new brigades in the rear
to launch a new counteroffensive this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy said earlier in an interview with The Washington Post.
Zelenskyy said later in an interview with German newspaper
Bild that Ukraine has a plan for a counteroffensive, but that it needs weapons,
including from the United States. He admitted that Russia has more manpower and
weapons, but expressed optimism that Ukraine could gain an advantage due to the
quality of its weapons.
The Ukrainian military currently has only enough artillery
munitions for defensive actions, he added.
Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Pavliuk also spoke about
plans for a counteroffensive after the situation at the front stabilizes.
Ukraine’s next counteroffensive against Russian invasion forces will be more successful than its previous attempt, as the previous one was “sabotaged from within,” Zelenskyy said on April 9.