Zelensky: Ukraine will fight for long, but fighting on Russian territory excluded

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said on the air of Rada TV channel that Kyiv was not moving hostilities to Russia's territory not to lose allies' help.

"There is a big risk that in this case we will definitely be left alone,” the Ukrainian president said answering a question why the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not fighting on the Russian territory.

Ukraine would be ready to fight for a long time provided there would be no human losses.

"We are ready to fight for a long time, without losing people, minimising casualties as with the case of Israel. One can live this way," Zelensky said.

The President of Ukraine also said that Kyiv increased the production of weapons and ammunition, but it was still not enough.

"I launched several missile programs, pushed as much as possible, we manufactured and manufacture: [anti-ship missiles] Neptunes, [anti-tank missile systems] Stugna, [anti-tank missile systems] Corsairs. These numbers are not dozens times than before the war, but still these are colossal figures,” he said.

Zelensky also said that Ukraine was making NATO-caliber artillery. He earlier said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were suffering from arms shortages all the time.

"There are always shell shortages, always artillery shortages," he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky also said during the All-Ukrainian telethon said that he was not holding on to power. Instead, he would like to hold new presidential electionы in the country, even though elections during the times of martial law were prohibited. However, such a possibility may emerge should the parliament support relevant amendments to the legislation and should Western countries provide financial support for the vote to take place.

"I would not like to fantasise that we live without elections for three, five, seven years. I don't want people to believe that one tries to hold on to power here. I don't hold on to anything. I would like to hold an election," Zelensky said.

In June, however, Zelensky said that a presidential election would only be possible when hostilities in Ukraine end.

In addition, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that holding the presidential vote in the country during martial law would be unfair as not all citizens would be able to take part in them.