Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy anticipates Russia will intensify its offensive in the northeast and made a plea to allies to send more air defense and fighter jets to even the field.
In an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv has only a quarter of the air defenses it needs to hold the front line since Russia’s surprise offensive in the Kharkiv region last week.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops have managed to stop enemy forces that have moved 5 to 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles) inside Ukraine territory along the northeastern border, but he cautioned that those troops could be the ‘first wave’ in a wider Russian offensive.
‘I won’t say it’s a great success [for Russia], but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory,’ he said, speaking from Kyiv on Friday in his first interview with foreign media since the offensive began.
Zelenskyy warns Russia could step up offensive: AFP interview
Zelenskyy said the situation in the Kharkiv region has been ‘controlled’ but ‘not stabilized.’
‘Today, we have about 25% of what we need to defend Ukraine. I’m talking about air defense,’ he said.
Ukraine needs 120 to 130 F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft to achieve air parity with Russia, Zelenskyy told AFP.
Russian advances
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it had taken a village near Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region.
‘Units of the northern troop group liberated the village of Starytsya in the Kharkiv region and continued to advance deep into the enemy’s defenses,’ it said.
Nearly 10,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region since the Russian ground attack began on May 10, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.
Only 100 people are left in the city of Vovchansk, where ‘heavy fighting’ is taking place, he said.
A police officer helps local residents during an evacuation to Kharkiv due to Russian shelling near the town of Vovchansk on May 17, 2024.
Ukrainian authorities have evacuated around 8,000 civilians from the war-ravaged town of Vovchansk, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Russian border.
Russian forces took control of 278 square kilometers (about 107 square miles) between May 9 and 15, their biggest territorial gain since the end of 2022, according to AFP using data from the Institute for the Study of War.
Putin’s objectives
During a visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region was a response to Ukraine shelling border regions.
Putin said that he aims to build a buffer zone against Ukranian attacks, but that Moscow has no plans on capturing Kharkiv city, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
“I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” he said. “That’s what we are doing.”
Russian troops were “advancing daily according to plan,’ he said.
Moscow blames West for Ukraine’s long-range weapon strikes inside Russia
New conscription laws
To increase the number of Ukranian troops, Zelenskyy signed two laws on Friday allowing prisoners to join the army while imposing steep fines for draft dodgers. The controversial mobilization law took effect Saturday.
Ukraine recently lowered the draft age for soldiers from 27 to 25 and stiffened punishments for those who avoid being called up.
Ukrainian men are also obligated, under the new law, to update their personal data at military conscription centers across the country – a measure that is supposed to streamline army recruitment.
Consular services that provide Ukrainians abroad with passport services reopened Friday after shuttering last month.
The services had been suspended more than three weeks ago, on April 23, as a measure to apply pressure on Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 living abroad to register for the army to qualify for passports and other services.
‘Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the Homeland,’ said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on X, formerly Twitter. ‘Our country is at war,’ he wrote.
However, after popular backlash, consular services resumed Friday.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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