Ukraine overseas minister pushes again in opposition to counteroffensive doubters – POLITICO

Paul Ronzheimer is the deputy editor-in-chief of BILD and a senior journalist reporting for Axel Springer, the guardian firm of POLITICO.

Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday pushed again in opposition to rising doubts concerning the prospects for the counteroffensive that Kyiv is waging in opposition to Russia’s all-out invasion of his nation.

On the identical time, Kuleba urged Kyiv’s allies to proceed supplying Ukrainian armed forces with the help wanted to make its navy push succeed.

His remarks in an interview with Axel Springer, POLITICO’s guardian firm, come because the counteroffensive struggles to attain a serious breakthrough. The Washington Put up reported on Thursday that the U.S. intelligence group assesses that the Ukrainian push will fail to attain a key purpose: the southeastern metropolis of Melitopol, a strategic Russian logistics hub.

“We take such remarks in stride,” Kuleba stated within the interview. “In line with unnamed officers, generals and analysts, Ukraine ought to have ceased to exist inside three to 10 days in February 2022,” when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, he stated.

“They now count on that Ukraine will be unable to reclaim all of its territory swiftly,” he stated. “This demonstrates that even doubters grow to be extra hopeful with time.”

Earlier this week, Ukrainian forces managed to liberate the important village of Urozhaine within the Donetsk area, widening their push into Russian defenses on the southern entrance. However the Ukrainian military is struggling to advance, particularly on the japanese entrance, because it encounters closely mined areas.

“Analysts needs to be extra cautious of their projections and far-reaching forecasts,” Kuleba stated within the interview.

“We don’t must show something; our success will reward optimists whereas ruining the status of doubters,” he stated.

“What we do want, although, is extra long-range capabilities to attain extra short-term outcomes,” Kuleba stated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Sweden on Saturday for talks about such capabilities — particularly Swedish Gripen fighter plane. That adopted information on Friday that the Netherlands and Denmark acquired approval from the U.S. to ship F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.