“That is why no one had been knowledgeable about our preparations,” Zelenskyy advised the heads of Ukraine’s overseas diplomatic missions in a speech delivered on Monday, based on a translation by Ukrainian media outlet Pravda.
“Now the actual success speaks for itself: our energetic defensive actions on the opposite aspect of the border and Putin’s incapacity to guard his territory from our defensive actions of this type are very telling,” he continued, referencing Russian chief Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s allies weren’t the one ones who did not know concerning the assault. The deliberate invasion was saved so properly beneath wraps that even Ukraine’s own soldiers weren’t informed till the final minute.
“We joked that it wasn’t April 1st. The commander simply smiled, understanding we had no concept what was awaiting us,” a Ukrainian soldier recognized solely by his first identify, Serhiy, mentioned of the orders to invade Russia, The Economist reported on Sunday.
Russian forces have been caught off guard when Ukraine mounted a shock offensive into the Kursk area on August 6. The shock assault resulted in important positive factors for Ukraine on the battlefield.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s army, mentioned final week that Ukraine had captured nearly 400 square miles of Russian territory in just some days. That is near the quantity of Ukrainian territory that was seized by the Russians this yr.
“When our Ukrainian defenders act like this, decisively and bravely, and when the operation is certainly well-prepared, Putin has no selection. And now the world sees that it’s sensible, that it actually works,” Zelenskyy mentioned on Monday, per Pravda.
Representatives for Ukraine’s overseas ministry did not instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider despatched exterior common enterprise hours.