Ukraine war live updates: Kyiv tries to rally troops, urging them to resist burnout as Russian attacks intensify
Holly Ellyatt
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to rally his troops and support for Ukraine Tuesday, saying there will be no easy victories in the counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory.
“The modern world is designed in such a way that it gets used to success too quickly,” he said in his nightly address, adding that “when the full-scale aggression began, many in the world expected that Ukraine would not survive.”
“Now the colossal things that our people, all our warriors are doing, are taken for granted,” he added.
Zelenskyy’s comments came as Russia appeared to intensify its assaults on Ukraine, with one minister saying the country had experienced the most attacks in one day, on Tuesday, since the start of the year.
There are also concerns over the slow progress Ukraine has made in its counteroffensive launched in June, with growing impatience and reluctance, in some Western quarters, to continue giving large amounts of military aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers of the 63rd brigade rest as they train military tactics at an undetermined location in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on October 30, 2023.
Diego Herrera Carcedo | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Any F-16s given to Ukraine will only last ‘around 20 days,’ Russia claims
Russia’s defense minister claimed Wednesday that any F-16 fighter jets that the West supplies to Ukraine will be only last around 20 days if Russian air defense systems are operating effectively.
In a conference call with military officials, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Russian air defense systems had shot down 37 aircraft in the past month and that this was almost twice the number of F-16 aircraft that was expected to be given to Ukraine by its Western allies.
“That is, with such work, our air defense systems [would have] approximately 20 days of work,” he said in comments posted
on the Telegram account of Russia’s Ministry of Defense. CNBC was unable to verify Shoigu’s claims.
Several of Ukraine’s allies in Europe, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway, have promised to supply kyiv with F-16 jets although the timeframe for training and supply, as well as the number of aircraft that will be donated, differs between the nations and is not yet fully confirmed.
Denmark is expected to supply Kyiv with 19 jets but the deliveries will be made in tranches with the first six to be delivered in March or April 2024.
— Holly Ellyatt
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/01/ukr...st-news-on-russia-and-the-war-in-ukraine.html