Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Tuesday that his country is losing as many as 100 soldiers a day as Russia presses its military offensive in the eastern Donbas region, where street-by-street fighting is being reported in some areas.

“The most difficult situation is in the east of Ukraine and southern Donetsk and Luhansk​,” Zelensky said in an interview with Newsmax that was published on Tuesday.

“The situation is very difficult; we’re losing 60 to 100 soldiers per day as killed in action and something around 500 people as wounded in action. So we are holding our defensive perimeters​,” he added. ​

As of early Wednesday, one local official said Russian forces controlled about 70% of Sievierodonetsk, a key city in Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 when Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea. 

“If the Russians manage to take full control over Sievierodonetsk within two to three days, they will start installing artillery and mortars and will shell Lysychansk more intensively,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said​.​

Lysychansk, the only other city in the province not yet captured by Russia, remains under Ukrainian control for now, Haidai added. ​

The Zelensky interview took place shortly before President Biden announced in a New York Times op-ed late Tuesday that his administration would send Ukraine “more advanced rocket systems.” On Monday, the president said the US would not provide Kyiv with such weaponry if it were used to strike targets inside Russia — a concern the Ukrainian president dismissed.

“Look, we’re not planning to attack Russia,” Zelensky said. “We’re not interested in the Russian Federation. We’re not fighting on their territory. We have the war on our territory.”

Meanwhile, the German government — which has faced criticism from home and abroad for not doing enough to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion — announced Wednesday that it would provide Kyiv with surface-to-air IRIS-T SLM missiles as well as radar systems.

“With this, we will enable Ukraine to defend an entire city from Russian air attacks,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said Berlin and Washington are coordinating their moves.

Despite battlefield setbacks, Zelensky insisted that Ukraine would not give up any of its territory in exchange for a peace settlement.

“If it’s all about ultimatums and, ‘You have to concede a third of your territory, we’ll leave you calm and we’ve leave you alive,’ this is not something we can agree on,” he told Newsmax.

“We are the defensive perimeter,” Zelensky​ added​. “We are the strong defensive perimeter. It’s not something conventional. It’s not something natural. That’s the physical barrier made up of our people.”

The Ukrainian president also called on nations around the world to slap more sanctions on Russia and fully enforce those penalties already in place.  

“Now, he’s almost isolated,” Zelensky said of Putin. “The world always keeps giving him a chance, because the sanctions are not imposed completely. There’s gaps in some of the leaders saying the Russian leader should be offered with a way out.”

I​n the battle with Russia, Zelensky said “God is on our side” while Putin represents the “dark power.”

“We have to realize who is the dark power: It’s Russia,” ​Zelensky said. “And Russia is not going to stop in Ukraine, for sure.​”​

Other countries in the region — former satellites of the Soviet Union, members of the European Union and NATO nations — are “already under threat” from Moscow, he claimed. 

Zelensky also addressed the frequent attempts on his life by Russian agents, saying it shows Putin’s “weakness.” ​

“Attempting to kill the leader of this or that country is a weakness, I would say,” ​he said. “If you can’t talk, then it’s a weakness.​”​

​”​The weakness is to start the war, and they’ve already demonstrated there is weakness. If you can’t occupy that country, that’s a weakness​,” Zelensky continued. 

With Post wires