Ukraine “will lose war” if US doesn’t approve aid, says Zelensky

Ukraine “will lose the war” if the US Congress does not approve military aid to resist Russia's invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“It is important to specifically address Congress: if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelensky said on Sunday during a video meeting of the Ukrainian fundraising group UNITED24.

“If Ukraine loses this war, other countries will be attacked. That’s a fact,” he said.

Zelensky's warning, among the strongest since the war began more than two years ago, comes as Congress has for months refused to approve an aid package for Ukraine, leaving Kiev to deal with labor shortages and ammunition, while Russia attacks Ukraine's cities with missiles and tests weak points along the front line.

The US Senate passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid bill with assistance for Ukraine and Israel in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to hold a vote on approving the Ukraine package.

Zelensky previously told CNN that “millions” could die in Ukraine’s war with Russia if U.S. lawmakers don’t approve the aid package.

When Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, it thought it would take Kiev days and the rest of the country weeks. In what proved to be a disastrous miscalculation for Moscow, Ukraine repelled the initial attack on its capital and later in 2022 regained some of the territories invaded by Russia.

The front lines since then have been largely static, with Russia continuing to occupy about a fifth of Ukraine's territory. Despite optimism that Ukraine could regain more of its occupied territories, its counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 has failed to significantly pierce Russia's defenses. The then commander of Ukraine admitted that the war had entered a “stalemate”.

Since the beginning of this year, Russia – enjoying a huge advantage in manpower and technology – has tried to seize the initiative, bombing Ukrainian cities with missiles and forcing Ukraine to retreat from the eastern city of Avdiivka.

Franz-Stefan Gady, associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNN that the war in Ukraine has entered a “transitional phase”.

“Russia is carrying out probing attacks along the front line. He's trying to advance where he can. And it is preparing what appears to be a future offensive in the future,” he said.

While European countries tried to substitute U.S. aid, Gady said there was “no substitute” for the support Washington could provide.

“This year, Ukraine really needs US support. There are certain weapons systems, certain logistical support that European countries simply cannot provide to Ukraine,” such as air defense systems, he said.

Also on Sunday, Zelensky warned that “in the coming weeks Russia will be increasingly insistent on dragging nuclear weapons into the debate, threatening, playing with this issue.”

In a separate post about X, he thanked UNITED24 ambassadors for “continuing to draw US attention to the Ukrainian people’s struggle for freedom and independence.”