President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not consider the current situation at the frontline as a stalemate.

"This is not a stalemate. Russia controls the sky. We save our soldiers. No one wants to just use our people as a cannon fodder, like Russia does," he said at a press conference on Saturday, commenting on a recent article by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny in The Economist.

Zaluzhny said in the article that the situation at the front has reached a stalemate and switched to a positional warfare in which, in his opinion, Ukraine will not prevail.

"How to overcome this? F-17. We have to wait until our guys receive training and come back. When there is air defense at the front, the military advance using this equipment," Zelenskyy said.

The president recalled that last year everyone thought Ukraine was at a stalemate.

"A few military tricks and, you remember, Kharkiv region was liberated," he said.

"We have no right to put our hands down. What alternative do we have? Do we have to give up one third of our country? This will be just the beginning then. We know what a frozen conflict means. We have drawn conclusions," Zelenskyy said.

"We should work more with the partners regarding the air defense, unblock the sky, give our soldiers an opportunity to conduct offensive operations," he said.