"We have agreed, but the agreement came late" - Podolyak's statement

We are behind schedule by 6-9 months, considering everything else – well-coordinated training operations. Of course, this is stretching out over time. This was stated by Mikhail Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Ukrainian president's office, in an interview with Channel 24.

“If we had agreed and received everything we needed a month later, that would be one story. If you agreed and received it 8 months later, that is another story. Of course, we are behind schedule. But what does it mean to be behind schedule? It is not about the de-occupation of territories, but about what Russia is doing in parallel, investing in defense production. It is not interested in what will happen to these territories. It is destroying everything there, simply mining the land; they will no longer be needed for anything. Putin is interested in us receiving less and slower weapons. This will then lead to gradual escalations in various areas. Thus, at some point, he can break democracy so that they accept that they are not ready to win a war against a classical authoritarian state.

And at that time we will fix that, for a long time, the gates of hell are open, which will lead to total changes in the global political process, extremely negative changes,” Podolyak noted.