Zelensky acknowledged problems with the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the counteroffensive

The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) is “slower than we would like”, declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the BBC.

“Some people think this is a Hollywood movie and are waiting for the results now. This is wrong. <...> People’s lives are at stake,” the Ukrainian president said. He explained that the difficulty in the offensive is the territory mined by the Russian army – according to his estimates, this is about 200,000 square meters. km.

Formerly Deputy Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh statedthat the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the offensive are the “sad part” of the conflict. “We took losses into account and knew that there would be losses on the battlefield,” she said on June 20.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have been conducting offensive operations since June 4. On June 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had definitely begun, but the Ukrainian army was not able to achieve its goals in any sector. On June 16, during the plenary session of the SPIEF, Putin announced that the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ten times higher than in Russia.

On June 13, at a meeting with military officers, Putin said that starting from June 4, Kyiv could lose up to 30% of the equipment delivered from abroad in an attempt to “large-scale” counteroffensive. According to his estimates, since that moment the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost 160 tanks and 360 armored vehicles. According to the Ministry of Defense on June 14, since the beginning of the offensive, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost 7,500 people killed and wounded.