Zelensky told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that his soldiers are underarmed and “lack the equipment they need to combat Russian reconnaissance drones, which are essentially guiding their artillery.” He said Ukrainian forces did not have long-range weapons or adequate air defenses, and noted that while U.S. lawmakers debated the aid package, Ukraine had lost time and momentum .
“The process has been at a standstill for six months and we have recorded losses in several directions in the east. It was very difficult and we lost the initiative,” Zelensky said. “Now we have every chance to stabilize the situation and take the initiative, and that is why we need weapon systems.”
The $60 billion aid package had stalled due to bitter infighting among Republicans over whether to side with Ukraine against Russia, which invaded the country more than two years ago. two years. Officials in Washington and kyiv have warned that Ukrainian front-line units are rationing a rapidly evaporating stockpile of weapons and that Moscow will soon have a 10-to-1 advantage in artillery fire.
Zelensky notably did not say when his forces might regain an advantage on the battlefield once they received weapons, nor did he indicate that the additional support would be decisive in the war.
“I believe that this support will really strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces and we will have a chance of victory,” Zelensky said.
Thanking House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), whose support for the package threatened his leadership position, as well as President Biden, Zelensky urged the Senate to act so the weapons could be sent to Ukraine “as quickly as possible so that we get concrete help for the soldiers on the front lines as soon as possible, not in six months, so that they can move forward.” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Saturday that the first votes on the $95 billion aid plan would take place Tuesday afternoon.
The Pentagon has massive military aid to Ukraine “ready to deploy” once the aid package takes effect, U.S. officials said late last week. One official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s planning, said it would take less than a week. for certain weapons to reach the battlefield, depending on where they are stored.
Zelensky has avoided any direct confrontation with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has said the United States should stop aiding Ukraine and promised he would end the war quickly if he were elected for a second term.
The Washington Post reported that Trump said privately that he would pressure Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, a reversal of the Biden administration’s policy of arming the country into can retaliate against Russia.
Zelensky declined to comment on the report, but suggested that Trump and his advisers understand that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a credible negotiator. “They know that Putin can never be trusted. This is impossible,” Zelensky said.
In Washington, Democratic and Republican lawmakers praised the House action and touted U.S. aid as a bulwark against authoritarian regimes around the world.
“If you give Putin Ukraine, he won’t stop,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“And if you give them Ukraine, no more Taiwan because China is watching to see what we do,” Graham said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) told the news program that the aid sends a message to Putin as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I think America is back on offense,” Blumenthal said. “And this sign that we can come together in a bipartisan way for our national security and send a message to Vladimir Putin, to Xi, to the dictators of the world: It’s too early to pop your champagne corks. America will defend democracy.
Highlighting tensions within his party, Graham criticized Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) for his opposition to aid to Ukraine and said Vance needed to visit the country to better understand the issues. for the United States and its NATO allies.
“If you want the U.S. military to stay out of the fight with Russia, help Ukraine,” Graham said.
The comments echoed warnings from Zelensky and other leaders that if Russia succeeded in Ukraine, Putin would eventually invade another European country.
“If the Russians win this war in Ukraine, then there is a very high probability that they will wage another (war) since it is about insatiable Russian imperialism,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” sought to shift blame to Biden for the way the war in Ukraine unfolded, saying that “the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan (in 2021) emboldened Putin to undertake the invasion of Ukraine. »
Sullivan acknowledged he couldn’t guarantee that Trump — a frequent critic of U.S. aid to other countries — would support Ukraine if he wins in November. “No one can guarantee anything,” Sullivan said.
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said the House should have acted long ago.
“The morale of the Ukrainians was good, but it was undermined over the last two months when they literally handed out rationed bullets,” Warner said on the CBS broadcast. He called for tougher sanctions against Russia and said China was “the worst offender with direct military support” for Russia.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) downplayed delays in delivering aid to Ukraine and stressed that the package passed with bipartisan support. “I’m sorry, democracy is a pretty complicated thing, and the reality is that it’s a done deal,” he told “Face the Nation.”
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