Zelensky: Now the counter-offensive is starting. Many of our soldiers will die, but we will win"

Ukraine is ready to launch its expected counter-offensive : President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"We firmly believe that we will be successful," commented the Ukrainian leader from Odessa. Zelensky acknowledged Russian air superiority and the lack of protection from this threat: " This - he underlined - means that a large number of our soldiers will die in the operation ".

"I don't know how long it will take," Zelensky said, "but we are ready." Hence the request for more weapons from the West: "We would like to have certain things, but we can't wait months." On the other hand, he observed, " our ground forces are stronger and more motivated than the Russian ones ".

Zelensky's announcement comes as Moscow feels increasingly vulnerable . Ukrainian bombs and drones hit Russian territory, near the border in Belgorod but also in depth, not far from the capital. Added to this are the proclamations of anti-Putin Russian militias promising new incursions.

" We must pay attention to the fact that the efforts of those who wish us badly to destabilize the situation within the Russian Federation are intensifying ," the president underlined yesterday during the Security Council meeting.

Risks that have become more concrete this week: at least eight drones have attacked Moscow, while the border regions are now regularly attacked, primarily that of Belgorod , where yesterday the killing of two women and the wounding of two men was reported .

Russian anti-Putin militiamen from the Freedom Legion for Russia , who claimed responsibility for an attack in the Belgorod region on May 22, posted a photo of their tank in the Russian village of Novaya Tavolzhanka in the same region. "Let's keep fighting!" is the comment accompanying the image.

Last night new artillery and drone attacks were reported, as well as in Belgorod, in the border regions of Bryansk and Kursk. But two drones also fell in the province of Smolensk, much further north, and one in that of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, a good 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Moscow is trying to block the announced counter-offensive in Kiev with the systematic destruction of war materials and munitions from the West before they reach the front.

(Unioneonline/L)