Interview with Zelensky: “We are not against the end of the war, but we want a fair end”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line.

Russian forces, which had made only moderate advances in recent months, launched an assault in the Kharkiv region on 10 May that has brought them their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half.

Zelensky also urged China and countries of the Global South to participate in a peace summit in Switzerland next month and acknowledged his army needed more men to boost the forces' morale.