The slowdown in Ukraine's offensive is not due to the crisis, but because of the winter. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in response to a journalist's question at a briefing in Norway.
The question concerned statements by US officials to the press that Ukraine should focus on defence rather than offence. The journalist asked whether the situation was really so critical that Ukraine needed to hold the front line and defend itself.
"Regarding the statements of the US generals, some individuals, some military, I will tell you this: in any case, it is not about the crisis, it is about winter. In winter, any operations - counter-offensive or defensive - always slow down," he said.
Zelenskyy believes that these statements are related to this.
"We understand that Russia has not had any victories this year, they have not been able to occupy anything. In winter, everything slows down for many different reasons. We are talking about the defence of the east of our country," he said, noting that it is where most of Russian troops are now concentrated.
The president added that last year, the Wagner group was defeated there, and 20,000 of them were eliminated. Now Russia has sent hundreds of thousands of troops there.
- Yesterday, the New York Times published an article stating that the US is now pushing for a conservative strategy that focuses on holding territory held by Ukraine, digging in and building up supplies and forces over the course of a year. US officials say that without a new strategy and additional funding, Ukraine could lose the war. A number of US military officials want Ukraine to stick to a "hold and build" strategy and focus on holding the territory it has and developing its ability to produce weapons through 2024. The United States believes that this strategy will improve Ukraine's self-sufficiency and ensure that Kyiv is able to repel new Russian attacks. It is about creating a real threat - enough so that "Russia could consider engaging in meaningful negotiations late next year or in 2025".
- Over the six months of the offensive in Zaporizhzhya Region, the defence forces managed to advance 2.5-3 km in the Melitopol direction, 8-10 km in the Tokmak direction, and up to 10 km in the Berdyansk direction, and overcome the most difficult enemy defence line - the first one, but the enemy resisted and is constantly taking measures to reduce the size of the areas where we broke through, continuously counterattacking on the flanks.