No Ukraine offensive without more weapons – Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia cannot commencement until Western allies nonstop much subject support.

He told a Japanese paper helium would not nonstop his troops to the frontlines without much tanks, artillery and Himars rocket launchers.

In an interrogation with Yomiuri Shimbun, helium said the concern successful eastbound Ukraine was "not good".

"We are waiting for ammunition to get from our partners," helium said.

And erstwhile asked astir the expected counter-offensive, helium said: "We can't commencement yet, we can't nonstop our brave soldiers to the beforehand enactment without tanks, artillery and long-range rockets."

He added: "If you person the governmental will, you tin find a mode to assistance us. We are astatine warfare and can't wait."

There has been speech for immoderate weeks of Ukraine launching a outpouring violative against Russian forces. Ukrainian commanders person hinted it mightiness beryllium imminent. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commandant of Ukraine's crushed forces, said this week it mightiness travel "very soon".

Some analysts accidental Ukraine's subject is talking up the thought of a counter-offensive to discomfit their Russian counterparts. They privation Russian commanders to dispersed their forces thinly on the beforehand lines, acceptable for immoderate attack, alternatively than ore them successful peculiar places, specified arsenic the eastbound metropolis of Bakhmut.

Other analysts judge a counter-offensive is imaginable soon. A US-based deliberation tank, the Institute for the Study of War, past week suggested that Russia's ain violative was perchance losing momentum and concluded: "Ukraine is truthful good positioned to regain the inaugural and motorboat counter-offensives successful captious sectors of the existent frontline."

But President Zelensky is much pessimistic. He has often warned that the warfare could resistance connected for years unless Western allies speeded up the transportation of weapons. But this is the archetypal clip helium has really said the counter-offensive itself mightiness beryllium delayed by the deficiency of Western equipment.

His remarks bespeak not lone his tendency to promote much speed, but besides his vexation astatine what helium sees arsenic the deficiency of haste.

Ukraine's allies person promised much tanks, artillery and longer-range rocket systems. But immoderate countries are struggling to present what they pledged, portion others are taking much clip than expected to get the instrumentality to Ukraine.

Western officials accidental subject enactment is arriving, but admit grooming and readying is taking time. They besides constituent to different factors specified arsenic muddy terrain making it hard for immoderate service to commencement manoeuvring easy and interruption done frontlines.

Such is the speculation astir Ukraine's counter-offensive - successful particular, erstwhile and wherever it mightiness travel - that the defence ministry has urged radical to halt discussing imaginable plans.

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar claimed connected societal media that lone 3 radical had the close to disclose subject plans publically - the president, the curate of defence, and the commandant successful chief.

"All others tin lone punctuation them," she wrote. "Please halt asking experts questions astir a counter-offensive connected the air, delight halt penning blogs and posts connected this topic, delight halt publically discussing the subject plans of our army."