Global Courant
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia is fighting a desperate battle in the face of Ukraine’s counter-offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News Thursday. He said he believes that if the Kremlin loses this battle, it will eventually lose the war.
“Our heroic people, our frontline troops are facing very harsh resistance,” he said in an interview in Kiev. “Because if Russia loses this campaign against Ukraine, I would say, it actually means losing the war.”
Zelenskyy said the news from the front lines was “generally positive, but it is very difficult”.
Watch MSNBC and NBC News all day NOW for more.
The interview comes days after the start of the long-anticipated counter-offensive aimed at driving Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops out of occupied territory.
Kiev has been winning more and more in the early stages of its campaign, but still no breakthrough against the tough Russian defenses in the south and east of Ukraine.
The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam last week added a stunning new dimension to the conflict, more than 15 months after the Kremlin invasion.
In Zelenskyy, Russia has found a fearless adversary whose refusal to leave the capital has bolstered its international image and helped secure billions of dollars in military aid, the bulk of the Biden administration.
The counter-offensive could prove crucial not only to Zelenskyy’s hopes of retaking seized lands, but also to maintaining Allied support, which could be strained by the complexities of the battlefield and domestic politics.
Training for Ukrainian pilots to fly US F-16 fighter jets has already begun, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday. But this will not be a quick fix, as any training will likely take many months and come too late to weaken Russian airspace dominance in the counter-offensive.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday for the first meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive. An important question for NATO is Ukraine’s strong desire to join the alliance, something that has divided its members.
The issue of Ukrainian military aid itself is also likely to become a divisive campaign issue in next year’s US presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump has said he would end the war immediately but did not explain how, complaining about the cost of the aid. His main rival for the GOP nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, backtracked on comments downplaying the war as a “territorial dispute” that the U.S. didn’t need to “get further entangled in.”
Richard Engel and Gabe Joselow reported from Kiev, and Alexander Smith reported from London.
Yuliya Talmazan contributed.
