Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line, Volodomyr Zelesnky has said, as he anticipates Russia will step up its offensive in the northeast of Ukraine.

With Russia making their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half over the past week – pushing as far as three to six miles along the northeastern border – the Ukrainian president is doubling down on pleas to allies for more air defences and fighter jets.

“I won’t say it’s a great success (for Russia) but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory,” he said of Moscow’s surprise assault on Kharkiv last week.

“Today, we have about 25 percent of what we need to defend Ukraine. I’m talking about air defence,” he said. The situation in Kharkiv, he said in an interview with AFP, is “controlled” but not “stabilised.”

Ukraine needs “120 to 130” F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft to achieve air “parity” with Russia, Zelensky said.

Outgunned and outnumbered, Zelensky conceded: “We need to staff the reserves... A large number of (brigades) are empty.”

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