In a rare personal visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the battlefield, particularly to the war-ravaged country’s northeastern Kharkiv oblast, he blamed Russia’s rapid advance on “the world” for not sending enough weapons. Ukraine’s front lines in the region have been collapsing amid a major new Russian cross-border offensive.

“Brigades are not totally equipped because of the package, which we waited through for eight months,” he told ABC News during the visit. He was referencing the delayed $61 billion Ukraine aid package which was recently passed and signed into effect by President Biden.

Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram

He was specifically asked by a reporter whether he blames the United States for the military setbacks. That’s when he asserted: 

“It’s the world’s fault. They gave the opportunity for Putin to occupy. But now the world can help.”

But he still seemed to lash out at Washington in particular, given the short supply of US-made Patriot systems. “All we need are two Patriot systems. Russia will not be able to occupy Kharkiv if we have those,” he said.

Weeks ago a Ukrainian outlet quoted Zelensky who has been seeking to ramp up the pressure on his backers in NATO:

“Regarding the number of missiles to Patriots, we really expect a positive result in this regard. Thank God that after we convened the Ukraine-NATO Council, we received an assurance that there will be no delays in the process (of supplying missiles to the Patriot systems – ed.), Volodymyr Zelensky said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also been urging allies to act fast, saying last month: “I don’t have Patriots in Brussels, they are in the capitals, and it is up to them to take decisions.”

European countries have been consistently told of late they must ‘sacrifice’ their anti-air defenses as protection of their own populations isn’t as pressing an issue at this point.

Journalist: What’s happening in Kharkov now, is this America’s fault?

Zelensky: It’s the fault of the world.

I mean it’s everyone’s fault that all that money allocated for defensive fortifications has been lost in the pockets of all these Ukrainians responsible for building it. pic.twitter.com/RPhVUQP9KQ

— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) May 16, 2024

So this is what it has come to: first European populations are dubiously told that Putin is eyeing expansion of the war deeper into Europe, and next Western countries are told to make drastic decisions which severely weaken their own national security. 

But in addition to lack of air defenses, air superiority, and enough ammo, Ukraine faces the even more significant problem of manpower. Even while widening conscription laws in order to gain enough fighting-able men, there’s still the question of properly training new recruits in a timely enough manner.