In an interview with Britain's The Times newspaper, Oleksii Reznikov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had ordered the military to recapture occupied areas in the Black Sea region that are crucial to the country's economy.
Reznikov said the offensive would use NATO-supplied weapons.
“The president has given the order to the supreme military chief to draw up plans," Reznikov said. "After that, the general staff are doing their homework and say to achieve this goal we need XYZ. This is my job. I’m writing letters to counterparts in partner countries, the generals talk about why we need this kind of weaponry and then we get the political decisions."
Reznikov praised Britain for playing a key role in his country's transition from Soviet-era armaments to NATO-standard weaponry.
But, he said, the deliveries needed to be sped up: “We need more, quickly, to save the lives of our soldiers. Each day we’re waiting for howitzers, we can lose a hundred soldiers,” Reznikov said.
“We have approximately 700,000 in the armed forces and when you add the national guard, police, border guard, we are around a million-strong,” he added.
(jh/gs)
Source: The Times