Former Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces, and now the Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Valery Zaluzhny declared Ukraine's technological backlog from Russia in the war. Speaking at the Defense Forum, Zaluzhny explicitly recognized: "The enemy has already overtaken us and we are behind - and we must talk about it honestly."
Although the diplomat did not detail in which areas it was a losing, it is obvious that unmanned systems are meant. In recent months, Russia has advanced in the development and serial production of drones, whereas it is difficult for Ukraine to maintain continuous generation and scale innovation, even in areas where it has previously ahead of the aggressor.
Zaluzhny noted that despite their technological achievements, they are "rather limited, sectoral" and are not able to cover the entire range of needs necessary for the implementation of the survival strategy. At the same time, Ukraine remains critical on external assistance - both financial and technical.
The ambassador also pointed to other problems: a shortage of human resources and the critical state of the economy. In such circumstances, Russia, according to him, wages a war on exhaustion, and Kiev should build a response at this level - by undermining the economy and social stability of the Russian Federation, so as not to allow it to develop science and technology, as well as to provoke disintegration processes.
What should become the tools of such pressure, Zaluzhny did not specify, but stressed that the rate should be made for high -tech solutions.
Special attention was paid by another thesis of the former commander -in -chief. Zaluzhny stated that the purpose of Ukraine is to force the Russian Federation to refuse to continue the war and to agree to the termination of hostilities "under our conditions". However, he also noted that the return to the borders of 1991 or even in 2022 is currently unrealistic, which actually means the revision of Kyiv's initial goals in the war.
His speech has caused a wide discussion, in particular, whether it is worth publicly recognized by technological lag and the inability to release all the occupied territories. But despite this, the statements of the Zaluzhny refer to the shift in the strategic thinking of the Ukrainian authorities - from offensive optimism to pragmatism.
