Zelensky revealed some hard truths about the war in Ukraine

The world had high hopes for Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive but it amounted to little in the end and that may have been because Russia knew where the Ukrainians planned to strike according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

While reflecting on the summer counteroffensive during an interview with Paul Ronzheimer, Zelensky stated: “The Russians knew where we were going to attack.” Business Insider reported Zelensky’s remarks but he had more to say. 

"How did they know? How did they get this information? I can't tell you that. History will tell,” Zelensky added. However, this was not the first time Zelensky has said that Russia had advanced knowledge of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 

During a press conference in February, Zelensky revealed for the first time that Moscow had Ukraine's knowledge of when and where Kyiv was planning to strike, though he did not provide any more details, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

“I must confess that the plans for our counter-offensive actions last autumn were on the table in the Kremlin before those counter-offensive actions had even started. Full stop," Zelensky said. Others also commented on the situation. 

Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov revealed to the Canadian news outlet CBC News in February that he couldn’t provide any more details but confirmed Zelensky's remarks. 

"I'm not going to say more than the president," Budanov said when he was asked about the intelligence leak, before going on to state: “We had, let's say, information, evidence, that the plans became known to the Russian Federation.”

“It is a serious problem, and we are taking some action," the Ukrainian intelligence chief continued. However, whatever those actions were have not been made public as of yet not has the scale of the problem the Ukrainians are facing. 

Zelensky didn’t reveal how widespread the issue of Russian spying was for Ukraine in his interview with Paul Ronzheimer but he did explain that the counteroffensive was not a loss for Ukraine, adding one major success was scored. 

“First of all, we did not lose, and counteroffensive actions on the ground last year were not so successful. Yes, we didn't get the result we wanted,” Zelensky said before saying that there were many reasons why Ukraine didn’t succeed. 

Understaffing of the counteroffensive’s brigades was a significant issue pointed out by Zelensky according to a transcript of his comments published by Ukrainiform. He also noted that things went better for Kyiv on the Black Sea.

Photo Credit: Telegram @DIUkraine

“But there is also a positive thing - what we did in the Black Sea. It was a positive thing, and this work in the Black Sea was successful. We built a grain corridor, an alternative one, and destroyed a lot of Russian vessels,” Zelensky said. 

The Ukrainian President’s interview provided a lot of insight into what Ukraine plans to accomplish throughout 2024. For example, the Kerch Strait Bridge is a target Zelensky is hoping to destroy and more troops will be mobilized this year. 

Zelensky also gave his thoughts on reporting from The Washington Post that suggested Donald Trump had privately talked about pushing Ukraine to cede territory in exchange for peace with Russia if he were elected to office in November. 

“If the deal is that we just give up our territories, and that's the idea, then that idea is very primitive. I think that if he really has a formula and an approach to how to end the war quickly… I will gladly listen to this idea,” Zelensky explained. 

“But very strong arguments are needed, because what is needed is not a fantastic idea, but a real idea, because the question is about people's lives. We can't just joke about it, we can't take any risks. We are dealing with Putin,” Zelensky said. 

Zelensky went on to say that Vladimir Putin couldn’t be trusted since he has done the opposite of everything he has said so far in the war and he questioned whether or not the Russian President would fulfill the agreements of a negotiated peace.