Zelenskyy Says Russia Is Losing Initiative in Volodymyr Zelenskyy Guardian Interview
In a volodymyr zelenskyy guardian interview in London, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is losing the initiative day by day and that Ukraine’s military situation is the most promising it has been for Kyiv for two and a half years. The Ukrainian president tied that assessment to recent drone strikes on Russian-held and Russian-linked targets, as well as mounting pressure on Moscow’s forces.
“We can’t say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day,” Zelenskyy said. He also said the Kremlin was losing more than 30,000 soldiers a month, including 23,000 to 24,000 killed and the rest heavily wounded. “Totally, this is a very big number. It means that they are not winning the war,” he said.
St Petersburg and Crimea
Long-range Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg over the past week, setting fire to oil terminals there, according to the facts from the interview. Similar attacks crippled occupied Crimea, where a key supply road was littered with burning lorries and tankers and severe fuel shortages followed. Those attacks gave Zelenskyy the evidence he used to argue that Moscow is losing ground in places it had treated as secure.
The sequence matters because the interview did not rely on rhetoric alone. Zelenskyy pointed to a concrete pattern: strikes reaching St Petersburg, disruption inside occupied Crimea, and what he described as rising strain on Russian logistics. He said Russia was also losing influence in different countries, including Azerbaijan, broadening the picture beyond the battlefield.
Putin rejects meeting offer
Zelenskyy wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin last week suggesting a face-to-face meeting to wind down the conflict. Putin rejected the offer on Friday at the St Petersburg economic forum and described the letter as “rude.” Putin also said Russia’s territorial demands remained unchanged and told Russian forces, “Keep working, brothers.”
That exchange left the two presidents with sharply different public positions. Zelenskyy said Putin had lied about the war from the beginning, while Putin said Russian forces were going forward across all parts of the frontline. The two statements sit beside the same conflict but point in opposite directions: one side arguing momentum has shifted, the other insisting the battlefield remains on Moscow’s terms.
Moldova, Armenia and Ukraine
Zelenskyy’s broader argument extended beyond Russia’s military losses. He said recent Russian efforts to support pro-Kremlin candidates in Moldova failed, and that similar efforts in Armenia failed over the weekend. In April, Viktor Orbán was trounced in Hungary’s general election, another result Zelenskyy folded into his claim that Russian influence is narrowing.
For readers tracking where the war may go next, the practical point is the one Zelenskyy made in London: Kyiv wants to show that battlefield pressure, long-range strikes, and diplomatic rejection from Moscow now move together. Russia’s public line remains unchanged, but the next visible test comes from whether that gap between rhetoric and battlefield reality widens after the St Petersburg forum exchange and the latest attacks.
