Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Friday acknowledged that Russia was slowing its Ukrainian counteroffensive, but also blamed the “slowness” of Western arms supplies and called for long-range weapons and new sanctions against Moscow, AFP reported.

Volodymyr ZelenskyiPhoto: President of Ukraine / Zuma Press / Profimedia

The Ukrainian president also emphasized that time is against Ukraine, as Russia is betting on a Republican victory in the 2024 presidential election to weaken Kiev’s support for the United States.

He again asked for more weapons, with longer range and faster. And sanctions against Moscow.

“The longer this goes on, the more people suffer (…) If we are not in heaven, but Russia is, they stop us from heaven. They are stopping our counteroffensive,” he said at a conference in Kyiv.

According to him, “processes are complicated and slowed down when it comes to economic sanctions against Moscow or the supply of weapons” from the West.

Ukraine has been complaining for months about the slow progress of negotiations regarding the supply of F-16 fighter jets.

Several dozen of these American planes will later be delivered by European countries, but now the crews will have to train for months.