On the second anniversary of the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian War, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the US Congress to approve an additional aid package for Kyiv. In an interview aired on Thursday evening, he stated that failing to do so would cost Ukrainian lives.
House Republicans have stalled the approval of a new $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. Zelensky made his appeal during an interview with Fox News. Speaking to Fox News anchor Bret Baier near the Ukrainian frontline, Zelensky said, “Will Ukraine survive without Congress support? Of course. But not all of us will.”
The Ukrainian leader also warned that the cost of aiding Kyiv now is much lower than the potential cost of confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin later if he prevails in Ukraine.
The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, making it Kyiv’s largest donor ever. However, the current funding has run out, while allies of former President Donald Trump in the House are delaying the passage of the new aid package.
Trump, a potential Republican candidate in the November presidential election, opposes aiding Kyiv. He recently used his influence to block a US bill aimed at reforming border and immigration laws, which would have provided additional aid to Ukraine in a trade-off between Democrats and Republicans.
Zelensky, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, said he is ready to take Trump to the frontlines in Ukraine, adding that policymakers need to see with their own eyes what real war entails.
The Russo-Ukrainian War was sparked by a Russian military operation against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following a long military buildup and Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. Russian forces entered the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine on February 21, 2022. On February 24, after a speech in which Putin announced a military operation to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine, bombing began on locations across the country, including the capital, Kyiv.
