Zelenskyy reveals number of Russian troops on Ukrainian soil

Zelenskyy spoke about developments regarding the Russia-Ukraine war at a press conference he held in the capital, Kyiv.

Sharing information that the war is ongoing, Zelenskyy noted that intense clashes are also taking place in the direction of Ukraine's Sumy region.

Pointing out that the Russians mainly use North Korean-made missiles in their attacks on the front line in this region, Zelenskyy said, "23 percent of all attacks and all bombardments carried out on the front are taking place in the direction of Sumy."

Zelenskyy reported that the Russian army had advanced 200 meters in this direction during the week, but was later pushed back by Ukrainian units by a distance of 200 to 400 meters.

Stating that the Russians are also trying to break through the defense line in the Dnipropetrovsk region and continue to attempt attacks with small groups, Zelenskyy said, "However, they have not achieved any success there so far."

Zelenskyy said that the Russian army carries out approximately 200 attacks every day along the front line, using the expression, "There are 695,000 Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory today."

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy also reported that the Russians are continuing their attacks on Sumy with an army of 52,000 personnel from Russian territory.

Speaking about the exchange of soldier and civilian remains with Russia, as required by the agreements reached during the meetings held in Istanbul on June 2, Zelenskyy pointed out that there were 20 Russian soldiers' remains among those returned by Russia to Ukraine, saying, "Some of the remains even have Russian passports on them."

Zelenskyy said, "They cannot control who they are sending. Of course, we want to bring back the remains of all our soldiers and heroes, but we certainly do not want to bring back 'Russians' (remains of Russian soldiers) just for the sake of numbers."

Touching on the possibility of continuing negotiations with Russia, Zelenskyy argued that the goal of the Russians is for the US to cut off aid to Ukraine.

Emphasizing that the Russian side is trying to avoid meetings at the leadership level for now by continuing prisoner exchanges, Zelenskyy said, "If a few more meetings are held, they will show the US that the diplomatic process is continuing and sanctions will be postponed. While exchanges are taking place, meetings at the leadership level will also be postponed because it is definitely not profitable for them."

Stating that they will begin signing relevant agreements in the summer months to be able to export Ukraine's military technology to European countries, Zelenskyy made the following assessment:

"We have also launched the 'Build with Ukraine' program, and in the summer months, we will sign the relevant agreements to begin exporting our technologies abroad in the format of opening production lines in European countries, and perhaps only in countries that help us, finance the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and have begun to finance the production of missiles in Ukraine."

Expressing that they could also produce UAVs, missiles, and artillery systems for Ukraine and the relevant countries within the scope of the program in question, Zelenskyy shared the information, "We plan to provide all of these to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the war."

Stating that his country is a part of Europe's security and inviting allied countries to allocate 0.25 percent of their gross national product to Ukraine's defense industry starting next year, Zelenskyy said, "We have allocated 43 billion dollars for the defense industry this year."

News Source: İHA