{"id":251724,"date":"2023-06-30T23:12:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T20:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/492"},"modified":"2023-06-30T23:21:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T20:21:04","slug":"492","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/492","title":{"rendered":"Day 492: highlights from rare interview with Ukraine\u2019s chief commander, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a rare, wide-ranging interview<\/a> with The Washington Post, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi expressed frustration over an opinion publicly expressed by Western officials and military analysts that Ukraine\u2019s long-awaited counteroffensive has started slower than expected. The conversation circled around \u201cplanes, shells, and patience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Washington Post in Kyiv, where The Post now has a bureau, Zaluzhnyi reminded the Western public that Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive \u201cis not a show.\u201d He also said Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s his fourth extensive interview since the invasion. Last year Zaluzhnyi spoke to Time magazine and The Economist. Earlier this year, for the one-year anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, he was interviewed by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Komarov. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the highlights from Zaluzhnyi\u2019s interview with The Washington Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine needs modern fighter jets<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive to progress faster, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the top officer in Ukraine\u2019s armed forces, says he needs more \u2014 of every weapon. And he is telling anyone who will listen, including his American counterpart Gen. Mark A. Milley as recently as Wednesday, that he needs those resources now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaluzhny expressed frustration that while his biggest Western backers would never launch an offensive without air superiority, Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets but is expected to rapidly take back territory from the occupying Russians. American-made F-16s, promised only recently, are not likely to arrive until the fall \u2014 in a best-case scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaluzhny also pointed to NATO forces\u2019 own doctrine \u2014 which parallels Russia\u2019s, he said \u2014 that calls for air superiority before launching ground-based deep-reaching operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Ukraine, moving to offensive operations, should follow which doctrine?\u201d Zaluzhny said. \u201cNATO’s? The Russian Federation’s? Or is that none of your business? \u2018You have your own doctrine. You have tanks, you have some cannons, you have some [fighting vehicles]. You can do it.\u2019 What is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his command post, Zaluzhny has a screen that shows him everything in the air at any given moment \u2014 the aviation from NATO countries at Ukraine\u2019s western border, his own planes in the sky over Ukraine, and Russia\u2019s on the eastern edges. \u201cLet\u2019s just say the number of aircraft that are on duty near our western borders is twice as much as the number of Russian aircraft devastating our positions. Why can\u2019t we take at least a third of it from there and move it here?\u201d Zaluzhny asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Russia\u2019s more modern fleet of Su-35s have a far superior radar and missile range, Ukraine\u2019s older jets cannot compete. Troops on the ground are easily targeted as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody is saying that tomorrow we should rearm and get 120 planes,\u201d Zaluzhny said. \u201cWhy? I do not need 120 planes. I\u2019m not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough. But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation. It\u2019s like we\u2019d go on the offensive with bows and arrows now, and everyone would say, \u2018Are you crazy?\u2019 But with this question, \u2018No, no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine needs more ammunition<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

His troops also should be firing at least as many artillery shells as their enemy, Zaluzhny said, but have been outshot tenfold at times because of limited resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all,\u201d he added. \u201cBut they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants in the show, the observers, would like, but that is their problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaluzhny said he relays his concerns to Milley, whom he has grown to deeply admire and considers a friend, several times per week in conversations that can last hours. \u201cHe shares them absolutely. And I think he can help me get rid of those worries,\u201d Zaluzhny said, adding that he told Milley on Wednesday how many more artillery shells he needs per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these conversations, Zaluzhny is frank about the consequences: \u201cWe have an agreement: 24\/7, we\u2019re in touch. So, sometimes I can call up and say, \u2018If I don\u2019t get 100,000 shells in a week, 1,000 people will die. Step into my shoes,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s not a show (\u2026). Every day, every meter is given by blood.\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So it \u201cpisses me off,\u201d Zaluzhny said, when he hears that Ukraine\u2019s long-awaited counteroffensive in the country\u2019s east and south has started slower than expected \u2014 an opinion publicly expressed by Western officials and military analysts and also by President Volodymyr Zelensky, though Zaluzhny was not referring to Zelensky. His troops have gained some ground \u2014 even if it\u2019s just 500 meters \u2014 every day, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur task is to prepare for the worst and most possible scenarios. And we will try to minimize the possible consequences of what could be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One worst-case scenario Zaluzhny must consider is the threat that Putin might deploy a nuclear weapon. And Zelensky warned last week that Ukrainian intelligence received information that Russian forces were preparing a \u201cterrorist act with the release of radiation\u201d at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe\u2019s largest atomic power station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that give Zaluzhny pause from trying to retake control of the plant as part of Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t stop me at all,\u201d Zaluzhny said. \u201cWe are doing our job. All these signals come from outside for some reason: \u2018Be afraid of a nuclear strike.\u2019 Well, should we give up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining Ukraine podcast. A story of a Ukrainian village head tortured by the Russian soldiers<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mykola, the acting head of Nechvolodivka, a village near Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast, was twice kidnapped and tortured by the Russian occupiers. We went to his village and spoke to him and his family. In this episode, we tell you the story of him and his family\u2019s story – and try to look at the patterns of Russian cruelty during the occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian scholar and journalist, in charge of international outreach at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n