Zelenskyy: Israel-Hamas conflict diverts focus from Ukraine fighting

(Patria) - The war between Israel and Hamas is "diverting focus" from the conflict in Ukraine, said the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding that this is "one of the goals" of Russia, which launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the BBC reported.

He denied that the fighting in Ukraine had reached a stalemate, despite a recent assessment by a high-ranking military general.

Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Zelenskyy said it was "clear that the war in the Middle East is diverting focus" from Ukraine. He said Russia wants this focus to "weaken", but stressed that "everything is in our power".

Zelenskyy was asked to comment on Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny's assessment this week that the war was moving into a "positional" or static phase, which would benefit Moscow as it would "allow it to rebuild its military power".

"Everyone is tired and there are different opinions," Zelenskyy replied, adding: "But this is not a stalemate." He acknowledged that Russia "controls the sky" and that Ukraine urgently needs US-made F-16 fighter jets and advanced air defense to change the situation.

The Ukrainian leader recalled that there was also much talk of a battlefield stalemate last year, but pointed to Kyiv's later major military victories in the northeastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions.

He dismissed media reports that he was under increasing pressure to consider negotiations with Russia.

"Today, no one among the leaders of the EU, the US, and our other partners is pressuring us to sit down and negotiate with Russia now and give them something. That will not happen," he said.