Zelensky: Counteroffensive started too late, there will be no happy end

Published September 11, 2023 11:12am ET



‘VICTORY IS NOT HAPPINESS’: In a wide-ranging interview in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the late start of the summer counteroffensive, which he blamed on the delay in providing critical weapons systems, and said there will be no “happy end” to the war because of the widespread death and destruction inflicted by the Russian invasion.

“All of us want to have success and a happy end,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, saying that victory will mean an end to Russian occupation but won’t bring back the estimated 200,000 Ukrainians killed or grievously wounded in the war. “It’s about counteroffensive. It’s not a movie with the happy end,” he said, speaking English. “We will not have a happy end. We lost a lot of people. No happy end. That we have to recognize it … victory is not happiness.”

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