Ukraine “will lose the war” if the United States Congress does not approve military aid to help it resist Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated.
Zelensky’s warning, his starkest since the war began more than two years ago, comes as Congress has for months refused to pass a package of aid for Ukraine, leaving Kyiv to battle manpower and ammunition shortages
“It’s important to specifically address the Congress: if the Congress doesn’t help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelensky said on Sunday, April 7 during a video meeting of the Ukrainian fund-raising group UNITED24
“If Ukraine loses this war, other countries will be attacked. This is a fact,” he said.
The US Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine and Israel in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to hold a vote on passing the package for Ukraine.
Zelensky previously told CNN that “millions” could die in Ukraine’s war with Russia if US lawmakers do not approve the aid package.
When Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, it thought it would take Kyiv in days and the rest of the country in weeks.
Ukraine repelled the initial assault on its capital and, later in 2022, reclaimed some of the territories taken by Russia.
The frontlines have since been largely static, with Russia continuing to occupy around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Despite optimism that Ukraine could reclaim more of its occupied territories, its counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 failed to significantly pierce Russia’s defences.
Also on Sunday, Zelensky warned that “in the coming weeks Russia will be more and more insistent on dragging nuclear weapons into the debate, threatening, playing with this matter.”