Volodymyr Zelensky made the statement in an interview with European public service broadcasters including Britain’s BBC.
He said: “With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful. But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable.”
The Ukrainian president added: "So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."
Zelensky said Ukraine’s army had combat brigades that were ready, but still needed "some things," including armoured vehicles that were "arriving in batches."
The president declared that Ukraine would not cede any territory in exchange for peace, the BBC reported.
He told viewers: "Everyone will have an idea. [But] they can't pressure Ukraine into surrendering territories. Why should any country of the world give Putin its territory?"
Ukraine’s expected counterattack could be decisive in the war, and will represent a crucial test for Kyiv, which is eager to prove that the help it has received from the West can result in major battlefield gains, the BBC said.
In the interview, published on Thursday, Zelensky dismissed Russia’s accusations that Ukraine was responsible for last week's drone incident over the Kremlin.
Moscow described the incident as an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, according to news outlets.
Zelensky said: "They constantly look for something to sound like a justification, saying 'you do this to us, so we do that to you.'"
He added: "But it didn't work. Even for their domestic public, it didn't work. Even their own propagandists didn't believe that. Because it looked very, very artificial."
Ukraine’s president also said that his country’s troops were beginning to witness the impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s weapons arsenal, including “depleted missiles stockpiles” and “shortages of artillery.”
Zelensky said: "They still have a lot in their warehouses but … we already see that they've reduced shelling per day in some areas."
Russian forces ‘constrained’ in Bakhmut’: ISW
Meanwhile, Moscow’s forces battling for Ukraine’s key eastern city of Bakhmut are “considerably constrained” by “pervasive issues with Russian combat capability,” according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US think tank.
In its latest report on the war in Ukraine, published on Wednesday night, the ISW said that Russia’s “continued attritional assaults” in the Bakhmut area were further limiting the ability of Moscow's forces to "defend against localized Ukrainian counterattacks.”
US greenlights transfer of seized Russian assets for use in Ukraine
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has approved the first transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday night.
The US Justice Department last year charged Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev with violating sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Malofeyev had been providing financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea, the White House said.
Garland at the time announced “the seizure of millions of dollars from an account at a US financial institution traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations,” reporters were told on Wednesday.
In February, Garland said he authorised the transfer of that money for use in Ukraine, the Reuters news agency reported.
On Wednesday, announcing the first transfer, Garland said in a statement: “While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last.”
Thursday is day 442 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: BBC, Reuters, Ukrainska Pravda, ISW