Volodymyr Zelenskyy has downplayed Ukraine’s loss of the eastern town of Avdiivka.

But he acknowledged the last year had been “complicated” for Ukraine, in an interview with Fox News.

“During these two years we got [back] part of the Kharkiv region. Now we are in this region… and we unblocked the Black Sea. There are grain routes and we destroyed a lot of their ships of the Russian fleet. 

“That is what we did over two years. And what they could do? Only this one place. But what for?”

Avdiivka lies nine miles northwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, and Russian analysts say its capture will prevent Ukraine shelling Donetsk.

Mr Zelenskyy also expressed discontent with the slowdown in Western aid for Ukraine’s war effort.

“We have to be quicker. That means to lose all the bureaucracy. Otherwise, we will not have any chance.”