PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will lose its war against a Russian invasion, if the United States’ Congress withholds a $60 billion (€55.3 billion) aid package.
The Congress are expected to return from recess on 9 April where the multi-billion dollar aid package will be put to a vote, after the House of Representatives agreed to grant the aid package to the war-torn country last month.
United States’ President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have urged the policy makers to approve the package, which has been kept in cold storage for a number of months.
Today, while speaking to Kyiv-organised fundraising platform United24, Zelenskyy said there is a real possibility that Ukraine could lose its battle to waive off a Russian invasion if the military aid is not granted soon.
“It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelenskyy said.
He said it would be difficult for Ukraine to survive without the aid. He added that “if Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked.”
The package had been previously blocked by Congress for months over a political disagreement by Republican representatives, who claim the funds would be best spent investing internally.
After a number of pleas by the American President to grant the aid, the House on 31 March passed the vote where it is not expected to be put in front of the Congress again, once it returns.
Johnson, who had been in contact with the White House during the debate, came out in favour of the aid to be sent to Ukraine after pressure was placed on the House by Biden during the St Patrick’s Day celebration last month.
The war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 after Russian forces moved to invade the sovereign state, has been escalating in recent weeks with attacks on civilians in Ukraine becoming even more frequent.
Attacks on Russian territory have been increasing as well, as Ukraine have been assaulting cities and towns along its eastern border, leading to many from the areas, including women and children, having to evacuate.
Today, Ukrainian officials said a Russian strike on the town of Gulyaipole in the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed three people, with the head of the region, Ivan Fedorov, claiming on social media that they “died under the rubble of their own private house”.
Officials said another civilian, a woman, was killed in the city of Kupiansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region that has seen increased attacks in recent months.
Kharkiv, which has been a hotbed of fighting this weekend, was hit by even more Russian attack this morning, wounding five civilians.
Russia said a young woman was killed by a Ukrainian drone strike on the Belgorod border region today.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said shrapnel hit a car with a family of six inside in the village of Shagarovka, some 35 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. The governor said her father had a head wound and that two children were taken to hospital.
Contains reporting from © AFP 2024
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