KYIV, Ukraine
Ukraine President, Volodymyr
Zelensky, downplayed Ukraine’s loss of the eastern town of Avdiivka to Russian
forces and called for faster support from allies as the war against Russia
neared the two-year mark, in comments broadcast on Wednesday.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) visits the frontline positions of Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk sector on Feb. 19, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian troops took control of
Avdiivka last week in Moscow’s biggest battlefield gain since its forces
captured Bakhmut last May. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin says Russia will press
on with its drive through eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky, in excerpts from an
interview with Fox News to be aired on Thursday, acknowledged that last year
had been “complicated” for Ukraine, particularly as 2023 came to a close.
But, speaking in English, he
pointed to earlier gains, particularly in the northeastern Kharkiv region,
where the Fox interview took place.
“During these two years we got
(back) part of the Kharkiv region. Now we are in this region ... and we
unblocked the Black Sea. There are grain routes and we destroyed a lot of their
ships of the Russian fleet,” Zelensky said.
“That is what we did over two
years. And what they could do? Only this one place. But what for?“
Avdiivka lies 15 km (nine
miles) northwest of the Russian-held main town of Donetsk region, also named
Donetsk.
Russian analysts say its
capture will keep Donetsk safe from Ukrainian shelling as Moscow considers how
to pursue its drive to capture all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In his comments, Zelensky
expressed new discontent with the slowdown in Western aid for Ukraine’s war
effort, without singling out the United States.
US President Joe Biden’s
request to extend a big aid package has been held up by wrangling in the US
Congress.
“We have to be quicker. That
means to lose all the bureaucracy. Otherwise we will not have any chance,” he
said.
The president acknowledged
that finding an alternative to US support would not be easy.
“Of course, we will find. We
will not stay in the same place. We have to survive. We have to find some
parallel steps,” he said in the interview, conducted in part on a hospital
ward.
“You understand that this help
is crucial. So without it, sorry, we will have more and more such heroic guys
who will be in the hospitals. If you don’t have a real defending shield and
similar powerful artillery with rounds, of course you will lose people.”
The US Senate has passed a $95
billion aid package that includes funds for Ukraine, but House of
Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has declined to bring it up for a vote on
the floor of the House.
No comments:
Post a Comment