A planned counteroffensive against Russian forces will have to wait until the military has had more time to prepare, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, the EU and G7 are discussing sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needs more time to prepare for an anticipated counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.
In an interview on Thursday with public service broadcasters that are members of the Eurovision News exchange, Zelenskyy said the military is still waiting on certain equipment like armored vehicles.
"With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful," Zelenskyy said. "But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."
Ukraine has reportedly been gearing up for a counteroffensive for months.
Officials in Kyiv have tried to lower expectations about the operation in recent weeks.
In comments published by Germany's Bild newspaper on Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the counteroffensive likely won't be the last.
He said if the counteroffensive doesn't achieve Kyiv's goal of liberating all Ukrainian territory, "it means we have to prepare for the next counteroffensive."
