Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the United States, especially US taxpayers, for the billions of dollars of military aid they have given to Ukraine and asked for it to continue despite a possible reduction if the Republican party takes over the Senate and House of Representatives.
There have been mixed messages from Republican lawmakers who have threatened to cut aid to Ukraine if Republicans win control of the House in the midterms. Zelensky said he hoped US bipartisan support for the Ukrainian war effort would continue whatever the outcome.
“We would really like for the support — especially the amount of support — to stay the same,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour.
“We are grateful for bipartisan support. We would really like to have this bipartisan support remain after the elections,” he said. “It’s very important to preserve this level of support — because the US support sends a very significant, powerful signal.”
Zelensky also reacted to a recent Pentagon assessment that Russia has lost 50% of its tanks in the war in Ukraine “more or less corresponds to reality.”
Zelensky said Russia has suffered a “stunning” number of losses of military personnel and artillery.
On Tuesday, November 8, Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy told reporters Russia will come out of the war “weaker than when it went in,” having “probably lost half of their main battle tanks in the entire Russian military.” Kahl also pointed to the fact that Russia has “bogged down more than 80% of their land force in Ukraine” and exhausted the majority of its precision guided weapons in Ukraine.
When asked by Amanpour if the Pentagon’s figures matched Ukraine’s records, Zelensky responded: “I think this more or less corresponds to reality — although frankly speaking, nobody knows the full reality, especially as regards personnel.”
Zelensky said he estimated Russia has suffered “10 times” more losses than Ukraine, adding that although he couldn’t give exact figures there is “a very significant difference” between the losses sustained by the two countries.
He added that Ukraine’s reluctance to throw men as “cannon fodder” is another reason why it has not suffered much casualties like Russia.
“Whenever we ask our partners for artillery or armored vehicles, that it is not just about the weapons, but first of all protection for our military,” Zelensky added.
The Ukrainian leader pointed to the fact that artillery provided to Ukraine by the United States and Europe succeeded in helping to “break” the Russian military offensive.
“We stopped them, we de-occupied a large part of our territory. And this indeed was helped by the artillery and the new technologies,” Zelensky