After his Tuesday meeting with President Joe Biden, Zelensky sat down with Fox News anchor Bret Baier to discuss Washington's aid to Ukraine and the situation on the battlefield, among other issues.
"I think the most important thing to understand what's going on that Russia didn't occupied (sic) any village, any Ukrainian village during this year," Zelensky claimed.
The Ukrainian president's statement sounds puzzling given that in May, Russia had completed the liberation of the city of Artemovsk (also known as Bakhmut) in the Donbass region. Moreover, in August, Russian troops advanced in the direction of Kupyansk. By the end of November, the Russian military liberated the village of Artemovskoye (Khromovo) in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The New York Times has reported that as of September 2023, Russia has increased its control over nearly 200 square miles (518 square kilometers) more territory in Ukraine than at the beginning of the year. The newspaper also estimates that Ukraine has gained 143 square miles (370 square kilometers) since January 1, while Russia's gains amount to 331 square miles (857 square kilometers) during the same period. Ukraine has made modest gains through an all-out advance, whereas Russia seems "comfortable holding the territory it already controls", and has yet to launch a major offensive, according to the NYT.
Zelensky's apparent amnesia could be explained by the spectacular failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which became glaringly obvious after Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny spoke to the Economist. "There will be no deep and beautiful breakthrough," the general told the newspaper in November.
In his essay printed in the same publication, Gen. Zaluzhny warned against belittling Russia's military might, something that both the Western mainstream press and the Kiev regime did at the outset of the conflict.
Serhiy Kryvonos, a retired general of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, strongly criticized Zelensky for misleading Ukrainians regarding their chances of winning on the battlefield.
"Last year and in the first half of this year, we were told about victory, that the Russians were already exhausted, that they no longer had missiles, and that their economy had fallen. Did they say that? Yes, they did. (…) But did all this really happen? No!", the retired general said on air at the "Pryamoy" News Channel, adding that the Kiev regime's comments about a "powerful counteroffensive" also amounted to nothing more than just hot air.
It appears that the Ukrainian president has found himself between a rock and a hard place, as his lies are starting to catch up to him and haunt him.