Ukrainian forces would have to cede further territory to Russia if US military aid does not arrive soon, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, in his latest appeal to Congress to pass a multibillion-dollar package.
Zelensky warned that the lack of aid was urgent, and could endanger Ukraine’s major cities.
“If there is no US support, it means that we have no air defense, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-millimeter artillery rounds,” he told The Washington Post during a recent interview published Friday. “It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps.”
He said Kyiv would be forced to do less and prioritize resources, and the cut could have consequences.
“If you need 8,000 rounds a day to defend the front line, but you only have, for example, 2,000 rounds, you have to do less,” he explained, saying that the solution may entail shortening the front line.
“If it breaks, the Russians could go to the big cities.”
President Joe Biden’s administration is struggling to push a $95 billion international aid package – which includes $60 billion for Ukraine – through the House of Representatives more than month since it was passed in the Senate.
