President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stated he had warned the United States and different Western nations that the counteroffensive would go slowly the longer it took allies to ship the promised weapons and ammunition wanted for the mission.

In an interview with CNN broadcast on Wednesday night, Mr. Zelensky stated Ukraine had wished to start out the navy marketing campaign sooner however wanted to attend for the superior weaponry.

“I’m grateful to the U.S. as the leaders of our support, but I told them, as well as the European leaders, that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we need all the weapons and matériel for that,” he stated by way of an interpreter.

“Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower.”

The sluggish progress has been a standard chorus from allies and pro-Russian navy bloggers assessing the counteroffensive, which has encountered intensive Russian defenses.

Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that the Ukrainian troops have been “advancing steadily, deliberately.”

“Slow advance is very deliberate,” the final added in remarks to the National Press Club in Washington on Friday.

He stated the truth that the long-awaited push to recapture Russian-occupied territory was not advancing as quickly as many specialists had predicted didn’t shock him.

“It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody, and no one should have any illusions about any of that,” General Milley stated. “Ukrainian soldiers are assaulting through minefields and in the trenches, and this is literally a fight for their life. So, yes, sure, it goes a little slow, but that is part of the nature of war.”

Ukraine has but to commit the majority of its reserves, together with troops educated in Europe over the winter and spring, and outfitted with weaponry from NATO international locations, that means it could convey nonetheless extra drive to bear.

In the CNN interview, Mr. Zelensky made a well-known plea for much more superior weapons, and for American-made F-16 fighter jets.

“In some directions we cannot even think of starting” the counteroffensive, he stated, “as we don’t have the relevant weapons. And throwing our people to be killed by Russian long-range weapons would be simply inhumane.”

Eric Schmitt and Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting.