The Russian army is preparing two more “large offensive campaigns”. Warning from the top of the Ukrainian state
Illustrative photography – an Ukrainian tank passes a car in flames, near the Russian -Ukrainian border, Sumî region, Ukraine, on August 14, 2024. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP / Profimedia
The Russian forces are preparing two more large offensives after three failed campaigns this year, said Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelenski, in an interview with the British Sky News.
“They are preparing for two more offensive operations in the fall,” Zelenski said. “There were already three, and in the future … there will be two more large offensive campaigns,” said the leader from Kiev, in the interview published on Tuesday, September 16th.
His statements came after Russian President Vladimir Putin would have sent to American officials that he intends to conquer the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine (Donetk and Luhansk provinces) by the end of 2025. According to sources of Reuters, Putin believes that his forces “won”.
From November 2022, Moscow has won about 1% of the Ukrainian territory, despite its 2025 summer offensive, which has advanced with one of the fastest speeds since the end of 2024, The Kyiv Independent notes.
Zelenski attributed Russian military failures to significant losses of soldiers and equipment.
“They lost because of the large number of victims among staff and large number of lost equipment,” Zelenski said. “What we said to the Europeans and what we said at the White House … The Russians will not be able to conquer us,” added the Ukrainian leader.
Zelenski also rejected the statements that Russia could conquer cities like Sumî from the northeast, qualifying them as “lies and manipulation”.
Earlier during this year, the Russian army opened a new front in the Sumî region, conquering several villages, in May and June. At the beginning of September, Zelenski said that the Russians offensive was “fully threw.”
“I think the Russians are doing worse than they expected,” he added. “He is doing much worse than they told Putin. He doesn't know about it,” Zelenski said.
The Economist publication estimates that Russia has lost about 31,000 soldiers between May 1 and July 9, while Ukraine's General Staff estimates Russia's total losses from the beginning of the war, in 2022, and until now to about 1,100,000 soldiers.
In August, Zelenski said that Moscow will need another four years to conquer completely Donbas, the East Ukraine region formed largely from the Luhansk province, and the Donetk region, partially under the Russian occupation.
