Ukrainian troops are suffering high losses because Western arms are arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday.
Russia has been gaining ground in parts of eastern Ukraine including around Pokrovsk. Capture of the transport hub could enable Moscow to open new lines of attack. Zelenskiy said the situation in the east was "very tough," adding that half of Ukraine's brigades there were not equipped.
"So you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles... they don't have artillery, they don't have artillery rounds," said Zelenskiy, speaking in English. CNN said the interview had been conducted on Friday.
Zelenskiy said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European nations were arriving very slowly.