KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said that Kyiv will lose the war against Russia if the US Congress does not approve military aid to combat Moscow’s invasion.
Zelensky’s statement comes amid continued obstacle from Republican lawmakers in Congress, who have been withholding tens of billions of dollars in military assistance to Kyiv for several months.
During a video meeting of the Kyiv-organized fundraising platform United24, Zelensky emphasized the critical importance of US assistance, stating, “It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war.” He underscored the difficulty Ukraine would face in surviving without this aid.
Furthermore, Zelensky highlighted the broader implications of Ukraine’s potential defeat, warning that if Ukraine were to lose the war, other states could also come under attack, escalating the conflict’s impact beyond Ukraine’s borders.
The urgency of Zelensky’s plea comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, with ongoing violence and casualties reported across the country. Over the weekend, Ukrainian officials reported multiple civilian casualties resulting from Russian strikes in various regions.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian shell struck a private house in the town of Gulyaipole, killing two men and a woman. Additionally, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, another civilian, a woman, was killed in a residential building as a result of a Russian attack.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed to have destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over its border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk. Tragically, a young woman was killed in the village of Shagarovka, near the Ukrainian border, when shrapnel from a destroyed drone hit the car she was traveling in with her family. Her father sustained a head wound, and two children were hospitalized as a result of the incident.
