Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said that his nation’s victory “depends” on support from the West and expressed hope that the US would approve a critical package of military aid.
In a rare acknowledgement of setbacks, Zelenskiy said that 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed in the war and that plans for last year’s failed counteroffensive had been leaked to Russia.
He appealed to the West to boost Ukraine’s war chances at a forum marking the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Photo: Reuters
“Whether Ukraine will lose, whether it will be very difficult for us and whether there will be a large number of casualties depends on you, on our partners, on the Western world,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine has been weakened by an ammunition shortage, with a vital US$60 billion US aid package blocked by political wrangling in the US Congress.
Zelenskiy said that “there is hope for Congress, and I am sure that it is going to be positive.”
Ukraine has for months said that Western aid is too slow coming and that the holdups have real consequences as the war against Russia enters its third year.
Zelenskiy for the first time suggested that Russia had prior information on Ukraine’s much-anticipated, but unsuccessful counteroffensive last year.
“Action plans were on the Kremlin’s table before the counteroffensive actions began,” said the president, who this month sacked army commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny.
Zelenskiy said that Ukraine’s war losses were nevertheless much lower than Russia has claimed.
“Thirty-one thousand Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war, not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying,” he said.
Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu in December last year said that 383,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed or injured.
The second anniversary of the war was marked around the world with moving tributes.
During a Sunday service in the Vatican, Pope Francis called for intensified efforts to find a “just and lasting peace” to the conflict.
“There have been so many victims, so many wounded, so much destruction, so much anguish and so many tears over what has become a terribly long period — the end of which we cannot yet foresee,” he said.
However, the focus in Kyiv was on shoring up Western support.
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov earlier on Sunday said that half of Western military aid to Kyiv was delivered later than promised, causing losses.
Europe has admitted it would fall far short of a plan to deliver more than 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by next month, instead hoping to complete the shipments by the end of the year.
Such delays meant Kyiv would “lose people, lose territories,” especially given Russia’s “air superiority,” Umerov said.
“Despite the difficult situation, our soldiers courageously hold their lines and positions,” Ukrainian Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Sunday after visiting frontline command posts.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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