Zelensky told German media in an interview earlier this week that Ukraine is planning another counteroffensive against Russia, which is why it requires production licenses from its partners in order to build up its domestic military-industrial capacity ahead of that event. He also urged the US to break its Congressional deadlock on Ukraine aid in order to help his country prepare for this next campaign. No counteroffensive is actually planned, however, since Ukraine completely lacks the manpower and arms.

It can't realistically narrow the yawning gap between itself and Russia, which was only widened since the dramatic failure of last summer's counteroffensive. Russia already won the "race of logistics"/"war of attrition" with NATO by far, which has dawned on many in the West over the past nine months, hence the renewed interest among some from that bloc for freezing the conflict. Nevertheless, policymakers still want to perpetuate the NATO-Russian proxy war, which his why peace talks have yet to resume.

That approach is increasingly unpopular with the masses, who've grown fatigued and frustrated with this conflict, especially after last summer's failed counteroffensive exposed the fallacy of their hopes to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. This is particularly the case with the Ukrainians themselves, many of whom know someone who was killed or maimed in one of the meatgrinders. Left unaddressed, these public opinion trends could greatly complicate policymakers' plans for perpetuating the conflict.

Therein lies the significance of Zelensky's lie about an upcoming counteroffensive, which aims to advance several objectives, first and foremost misleading his own people by making them think that his regime has a plan for ending the conflict on their terms. They're unlikely to fall for that though after seeing with their own eyes and hearing from trusted sources how bad everything is going for Ukraine.