Zelenskyy Talks to Norwegian Media

Courtesy of NRK, here's what he told Western legacy media

Source; translation and emphases mine.

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President Zelenskyy to NRK: Norwegian Arms Helped us Through the Winter

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that there will be an offensive from the Ukrainian side, and he thanks the Nordic countries for their support so far.

NRK met the president in Kyiv early Thursday afternoon, together with a small group of journalists from the Nordic countries.

They are our Nordic friends. We feel that in this war. I thank you for your support.

There will be an offensive. It will be a success. Much depends on weapons. Without enough weapons, more people will be killed.

Furthermore, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine sees the Russian forces getting smaller and weaker every day, and that they have started to shift their stance to defence.

One of the key issues at the meeting was fighter jets, which Ukraine has been asking for more of from its supporters for some time.

Are fighter jets crucial to the offensive? ‘Yes, they will help’, he replied, adding:

It is important to control the airspace. We will continue to ask your countries for fighter jets.

Still, he emphasised that there is no reason to be afraid of Russia:

The worst has already happened. They started this war.

[strangely, NRK appears to have ‘forgotten’ their own reporting on NATO Sec.-Gen. Stoltenberg telling everyone that ‘the war started in 2014’]

Interview Conducted In Strict Secrecy

At the end of a large table in a palace room with gold panelling on the walls, Zelenskyy talked to journalists for two hours. The window was covered with sandbags. The entire block was cordoned off.

During the meeting, which was held under strict secrecy, he also spoke about how the war has affected him personally [as if that would matter].

I am very critical of myself. Every single day I think about whether there is anything I could have done differently.

I know many of those who have been killed.

[NRK] If you had not been president, would you have fought in this war?

I would have stayed in the country.

[NRK] Would you have become a soldier?

Yes, I would.

‘My children are not raised by me’

According to opinion polls in Ukraine, Mr Zelenskyy is the most popular president in the country’s history [i.e., since 1991].

But the job has cost him dearly. He said it is ‘not possible’ to combine the daily life of a family father and head of state in wartime.

Together with his wife Olena Zelenska, he has a 10-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter:

I am not the best father. I don't have enough time for my family. It is a pity and sad. My children are not being raised by me, but by my wife and the war.

Ms. Zelenska’s most recent post on Instagram shows a picture of her and her husband, which was posted in January:

[Ms. Zelenska] I am often asked how he has changed in the last year. I always answer: ‘He hasn't changed. He's the same guy I met when we were 17’. [that’s about the most inane thing to say about a 45-year-old]

But actually, something has changed: you smile a lot less now, as you do in this photo. I wish you more reasons to smile.

NATO Chief: ‘They have the military capability needed’

As the meeting was taking place, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg declared that almost all the combat vehicles that the defence alliance has promised to deliver to Ukraine have been delivered:

‘Ukraine now has the military capacity it needs to retake territory’, he told a press briefing with the prime minister in Luxembourg.

1,550 armoured vehicles and 230 tanks have now arrived, according to Stoltenberg. He added that this is more than 98% of the amount promised.

Still, Ukrainian soldiers tell the BBC that they are ‘running out of weapons’ at the front and that they are being asked by their superiors to ration ammunition.

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Bottom Lines

Kudos to NRK for asking what amounts to probably the most irrelevant questions imaginable. Sure, it might make the Norwegian political caste and their camp followers in legacy media ‘proud’, but the issues discussed are, frankly, beyond relevance.

Moreover, given the composition of armoured formations (e.g., the US military’s so-called ‘Armored Brigade Combat Teams’)—which consist of around 80-90 main battle tanks (like Abrams, Challenger, or Leopard 2) and about twice that number of infantry fighting vehicles, we may, however tentatively, conclude the following:

• for a front in excess of 1,000 miles (approx. 1,600 km), there are now 230 tanks and 1,550 armoured vehicles more on the Ukrainian side that have been delivered

• it is unclear how many of these vehicles are (still) operational, to say nothing about their potential—possible—impact along the long front line; any offensive requires what is called a Schwerpunkt, i.e., a focal point where the main brunt of the offensive is to be concentrated

• elsewhere (can’t find the link now, but see this AFP clip of Stoltenberg), I’ve read that there’s now roughly 40,000 newly-trained Ukrainian troops ready to take on Russia; spread out over a 1,000 mile front, that’s not a whole lot

• moreover, one of the issues we’ve not heard a lot about recently (or, ever), is the staggering logistics and costs associated with the ‘Western way of war’, specifically, according to Wikipedia,

  the operational cost for these combat systems [a US military armored brigade combat team] is $66,735 per mile. The range of the Abrams limits the brigade to 330 km (205 miles), requiring fuel every 12 hours. The brigade can self-transport 738,100 L (195,000 gallons) of fuel, which is transported by 15 19,000 L (5,000 gal) M969A1 tankers and 48 9,500 L (2,500 gal) M978 tankers.

As these Ukrainian formations are trained and equipped according to NATO standards, I very much doubt that there is enough fuel available to sustain any offensive, to say nothing about the logistics of supply of highly flammable liquids or ammunition (which, according to the BBC, must be rationed these days) in a combat theatre characterised by Russian aerial dominance.

War is quite a ‘democratic’ undertaking, though, by which is meant that the enemy also gets to weigh in on its course.

We’ll soon find out.