Zelenskyy lashes out at West as Russia bombards Kharkiv | DW News

Zelenskyy lashes out at West as Russia bombards Kharkiv | DW News

Ukraine’s president vadir selinski has acknowledged a tense situation on the Eastern front lines with troops suffering from battle fatigue and running low on weapons and equipment the president estimates Ukraine has only a quarter of the air defenses it needs to counter Russian missile attacks he also lashed out at Western allies warning their indecision is contributing to the critical situation we are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war and it doesn’t want Ukraine to lose it because Ukraine’s final Victory will lead to Russia’s defeat and the final victory of Russia will lead to Ukraine’s defeat and here we are with you right now in such a moment and such a challenge for everyone seninsky has been visiting the Eastern region of harke which sits on the border with Russia and has faced intense bombardment by Russian troops in recent weeks the country’s new conscription law comes into effect today lowering the age of conscription from 27 to 25 in a bid to boost Manpower exhausted troops on the front lines are hoping for a break and for more weapons to hold Russia back along the border with Russia ukrainians are fleeing for their lives attacks on the town of V Chans have escalated Russian soldiers have arrived on some streets this constant shelling a lot of missiles hit last night and several Rockets flew over it’s dangerous to stay here the residents are advised to evacuate just yesterday we had two dead and 15 wounded in Russian shelling the town is around 75 kmet from har Ukraine’s second biggest city which is being bombed by Russia almost every day President zalinski says Western allies must strengthen Ukraine’s anti-missile capabilities we need at least seven Patriot air defense systems I won’t say what we have in addition to those systems but I believe that we have only about 25% of the air defenses we need Ukrainian troops are being spread sin along the front line those in the donit region are short on Manpower and awaiting fresh help the situation is complicated we work day and night we’re short on ammunition and we’re trying to save as much as we can President salinski says Russian troops Advance between 5 and 10 kilometers inside Ukraine’s Northeastern border before being stopped by defending forces he warns Russia’s offensive could come in several waves and that the push for hak is just the first let’s bring in DW’s Russia analyst Constantine egot Constantine what has changed for the Russians on the battlefield well nothing dramatic Monica but if you consider the fact that Northern outskirts of hariv are only 26 kilm from uh the border with Russia uh pretty much every uh single Village every single square kilometer that uh the Russian forces capture brings them closer to harib and although Putin has denied that he wants to storm the city which is second biggest in Ukraine in Ukraine’s former capital in the 1920s uh no one really can believe him because he many times said one thing and then did another uh it’s another question whether the Russians now have uh the the the the the forces and the material for a full frontal assault on this city but uh it seems that this is at least a preparation for a POS possibility of such a storm now we just uh heard a little clip from an interview that selinski gave and we heard that he said uh the West is quote afraid of both Russian and Ukrainian defeat what do you make of his remarks Monica Frankly Speaking personally and having spoken quite a lot in the last few weeks with um experts military Observers in uh in the Baltic states where I am and also elsewhere in Europe I I take the same view I think that there is huge the feeling of fuging decision uh in uh the West uh and uh the idea that Ukraine has to win against Russia is still not accepted more than two years after the beginning of the uh fullscale Invasion yes there there are definitely uh fears that Russia will lose and then as many many uh Western analysts say we don’t know what’s going to happen in Russia if Putin loses the war but this is no argument for ukrainians who are very short uh of personnel and uh who are very short of weapons although the West promised them the weapons uh they’re still not being delivered and even the 60 billion package that the US um Congress has approved a few weeks ago uh it will take time before Weapons Under uh this package basically bought or transferred under this package will uh arrive in Ukraine and that creates well I think an understandable feeling of frustration uh in Ukraine right and well as you mentioned I mean this lack of equipment lack of weapons uh the fatigue lack of morale if you like uh how is all of that playing into the hands of Russia well it does because U everything that for example uh the Ukrainian authorities are now saying about mobilization uh about drafting more men into the army uh definitely is a very public sign of a shortage of personnel I wouldn’t say desperation but definitely uh signs of worry and uh this creates uh more momentum for Putin uh who can say well you know you still have to talk to me because I’m winning this war and this I’m afraid will have an impact on both public opinion and Western decision makers and this is what I think zilinski uh in his prove to be concerned about all right DW Russia analyst Constantine eger there for us thank you so much Constantine thank you and for some analysis let’s bring in Marina Miron from the war studies department at Kings College London good to have you with us let’s start with the situation in the karke region how exposed is kke at the moment good morning well it seems like um the offensive has slowed down in her region and the Russian forces claim to be controlling the north of wans up to Thea river which divides the city and Russian uh flanks the right flank is well protected by sisy donets so it’s right now what I think will be happening is that the Russian forces will try to cut off of chance from the east in order to create um a cauldron for the Ukrainian forces but um I don’t think that it will be as fast as the initial stages of the offensive and we’re also seeing some movements um and pressure along chivar we’re seeing movements on otin next to of divka so the Russians are trying to push along multiple axis in order to overstretch Ukrainian capabilities now we heard the uh Ukrainian president just earlier accusing the west of indecision in its report basically saying that the West isn’t really clearly rooting for either Russia or Ukraine what do you make of his remarks well I think his remarks are more of a strategic signaling and it’s not the first time that President zansky goes out to criticize the West for lack of support um the first time was actually in March 2022 so these announcements by zansky are quite frequent and I think that um this one is directed also at his domestic Auditorium in order to show that the political leadership is not giving up and it is a cry for help but um in a sense the situation inside Ukraine with the mobilization law with the lack of troops and lack of ammunitions and military equipment is very dire so he’s trying to show that Ukraine is not giving up just yet however whether it will have an effect on Western allies remains to be seen because they are not doing things for many reasons for lack of specific equipment for lack of political imperative so it it is very difficult to criticize the West for not doing things now you just also mentioned uh the mobilization law or the new mobilization rules that actually come into effect today what exactly do they entail well this controversial law which has been revised many times uh what essentially it does is lowering the age as recruitment age to 25 it also introduces harsher penalties for draft Dodgers and it also changes um the categories of disability for those who might be drafted who couldn’t be drafted before because of their health conditions and the problem with this law is what it doesn’t contain and essentially doesn’t contain anything on demobilization so there is um some sort of a gap and so it’s not clear when the troops will be able to go back home when they will be rotated and I think this is also one major point of controversy when it comes to this law all right Marina Miron from the war studies department at Kings College London thank you so much for that thank you for having me

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys has warned that Russia’s latest push in Ukraine’s northeast could be the ‘first wave’ of a wider offensive.
He has been visiting the region of Kharkiv, which sits on the border with Russia and has faced intense bombardment by Russian troops in recent weeks. Ukraine’s new conscription law comes into effect today, lowering the age of conscription from 27 to 25 in a bid to boost manpower.
Exhausted troops on the frontlines are hoping for a break, and for more weapons to hold Russia back.

00:00 Intro and report
03:31 DW Russia analyst Konstantin Eggert reports from Vilnius
07:10 DW speaks with Marina Miron of the War Studies Department at King’s College London

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