Zelensky: The influx of Western arms is making a difference.
Ukraine is now able to inflict “significant losses” on the Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, while other Ukrainian officials said an influx of Western weapons was changing the “game on the battlefield.”
In his daily video message on Monday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces are “capable of inflicting significant logistical losses on the invaders.”
“It is more and more difficult for the Russian army to hold positions in the occupied territory,” he was quoted as saying.
“Step by step we advance, disrupt the supply of the invaders and identify and neutralize the collaborators.”
While Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the “timely arrival” of longer-range artillery such as the US HIMARS system was helping to change “the game on the battlefield”.
“We managed to stabilize the situation. It is complex, intense, but completely controlled. An important factor contributing to the holding of our defensive lines and positions is the timely arrival of the M142 HIMARS, which conducts strikes on enemy checkpoints, ammunition and fuel storage depots,” said Zaluzhniy.
Nearly 20 attacks have been identified far behind Russian lines, in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, so far this month – some of them causing large and multiple explosions.
In addition, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told Ukrainian television that “today, we really have a completely different situation than it was a month ago.”
“Now, thanks to the fact that we receive enough weapons from our partners, we have established a certain parity in certain positions.”
Danilov said Ukraine would like more weapons in the future to tip the balance in its favor “so that we have as many capabilities as possible to end this war as quickly as possible “.
Speaking about the situation in Donbas, Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, stressed on Monday that “Western weapons are not working at 100%, but at 200%, because Russian warehouses have been blown up.”