Kyiv rebukes general over claim war is at a stalemate

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied a suggestion from the Ukrainian military's commander-in-chief that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate, and a senior spokesperson for his administration has rebuked the general in question and accused him of making "the aggressor's job easier".

- Sam Jones and Luke Harding

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi had offered his blunt assessment of the situation in an interview published last week. "Just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate," he told the Economist, adding: "There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough."

Zaluzhnyi said the war had entered a phase of attritional fighting in which neither side would make much progress unless there was a technological breakthrough. He also suggested that Russia was slowly getting the upper hand thanks to its superior numbers.