Ukraine suffering high losses due to slow Western arms supplies — Zelenskyy

Ukrainian troops are suffering high losses because Western arms are arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told CNN in an interview.

Zelenskyy said on Sunday the situation in the east was "very tough", adding that half of Ukraine's brigades there were not equipped.

"So, you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles ... they don't have artillery, they don't have artillery rounds," said Zelenskyy, speaking in English. CNN said the interview had been conducted on Friday.

Zelenskyy said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European nations were arriving very slowly.

"We need 14 brigades to be ready. Until now ... from these packages, we didn't equip even four," he said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said Washington was working on a "substantial" new aid package for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy is due to meet with US President Joe Biden this month and will present a plan for ending the war. The main elements are security and diplomatic support, as well as military and economic aid, he said.

Striking deep into Russia

Zelenskyy said the only thing Russian President Vladimir Putin fears is the reaction of his people if the cost of the war makes them suffer.

"Make Ukraine strong, and you will see that he will sit and negotiate," he said.

Zelenskyy will also reiterate to Biden demands for Ukraine to be allowed to use US long-range weapons to strike military targets deep into Russia.

Kiev needs this permission because Russian jets blasting infrastructure had begun operating up to 500 km from the front lines compared with 150 km earlier, he told CNN.

Western powers are under immense pressure from Zelenskyy, who wants Ukraine to be allowed to use long-range missiles against Russia.

But Putin has warned that the West would be directly fighting with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the war.