Ukraine’s troops appeared to turn the tables on Moscow in August when they launched a surprise offensive and managed to occupy a Western region in Russia.
Seven weeks later and Putin has still not managed to push the troops out of Russian land, instead focusing most of his army’s efforts on driving forward in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
But speaking to the US show Good Morning America on Tuesday, Zelenskyy claimed it was “true” that Putin was worried about the domestic impact of the incursion.
The Ukrainian president said: “He’s afraid, very much. Why? Because his people saw that he can’t defend – that he can’t defend all of his territory.”
Earlier this month, Putin denied Russia was “nervous” about the incursion.
He said: “The enemy’s goal was to make us nervous and worry and to transfer troops from one sector to another and stop our offensive in key areas, primarily in the Donbas. Did it work? No.”
But Ukraine’s offensive is thought to be putting serious pressure on Moscow, even if it has not slowed down its operations in the Donbas.
According to the UK’s Ministry of Defence, Russia’s daily casualty rate in the Ukraine war increased to 1,187 per day in August primarily due to the Kursk incursion.
Zelenskyy also told Good Morning America that the two-and-a-half-year conflict could end sooner than expected, despite worries about both sides being fatigued.
He said: “I think we are closer to the peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war. We just have to be very strong, very strong.”
These remarks come after the president claimed on September 16 that Ukraine’s “Victory Plan” was 90% complete.
Zelenskyy is set to visit the UN General Assembly this week in the US, where he will present US president Joe Biden with this “Victory Plan”.
The Ukrainian president has been calling for the allies to grant Ukraine permission to use their long-range missiles to hit targets inside of Russia.
So far, the weapons supplied by the West have just been used defensively, to prevent Ukraine’s allies being drawn into direct conflict with Putin and risking nuclear conflict.