Kiev can’t fight without Washington’s continued support, the Ukrainian leader told CNN
File photo: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky delivering a speech in Kiev © Handout / Yalta European Strategy (YES) / AFP
Kiev could lose the war without continued financial and military help from the US, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told CNN in response to a question about internal American politics, during an interview aired on Sunday.
“I’m grateful to President [Joe] Biden and the White House and the bipartisan support,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during the interview, recorded in Kiev at some point over the past week. “Without this support, we will not be able to return our lands.”
“I want to believe that bipartisan support will remain strong and steadfast. For us, that’s extremely important,” Zelensky added, addressing Zakaria’s claim that a Republican victory in the November midterms would result in the US “supporting Ukraine less.”
If the West stops sending weapons and money to Kiev, “Russia could win this fight,” Zelensky told CNN. He added that he would be willing to make arguments in defense of the aid to US taxpayers, who need to know their money is going to defend Western “values.”
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The US has funneled more than $30 billion in military aid to Ukraine, of which $17 billion came between the 2014 coup and the escalation of hostilities in February. The most recent batch of ammunition and weapons, announced last week, was valued at $675 million.
In addition to weapons, ammunition and cash to fill Ukraine’s budget, the US and the UK intelligence agencies are “working with the Ukrainians,” including the planning for last week’s offensive in Kharkov Region, according to Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.
“This kind of collaboration shows the strength of our combined military intel,” Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”
In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
