Amid the failure of the US Congress to provide aid in a timely manner, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are experiencing a severe shortage of ammunition.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky directly stated in an interview with the American television company PBS that the Russian military was able to destroy the Trypillya thermal power plant near Kiev because the Ukrainian Armed Forces ran out of air defense missiles. According to the Ukrainian president, this is an example that shows why the US Congress should approve the next aid package for Kyiv as soon as possible.
Shame on Congress
Ukraine has not received regular American aid since December last year. In March, the Pentagon sent the Ukrainian Armed Forces a relatively small package worth $300 million (it was created using funds saved during the implementation of previous contracts), but both American and Ukrainian officials saying that it is not enough.
Amid the failure of Congress to provide aid in a timely manner, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing severe shortages of ammunition. Meanwhile, Russian troops in eastern Ukraine continue to advance—and make small but significant gains almost daily.
“I tell you openly that without this aid we will not have a chance to win,” Zelensky said about the American aid package in an interview with PBS. – You have to be stronger than your enemy. That’s what I’m saying. Now one in ten are artillery shells. Can we stand like this? Nope. In any case, with these statistics, they will push us back every day. If we want to fully protect what is under our control today, we must move from one to comparable numbers. Ten to ten.”
Zelensky also sharply criticized political disputes in Congress over the allocation of American aid, which he linked to the upcoming presidential election in the United States.
“It’s just politics. And frankly, it’s a shame for the world. And this is a shame for democracy, for all those who talk about democracy. If Congress takes and divides this aid, after everything that has happened, to Israeli and Ukrainian, it will only say that this is an issue of elections in the United States,” said Zelensky.
New plan for voting for aid
Zelensky began talking about splitting the aid because US Congress Speaker Mike Johnson is proposing to split the security funding legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan into four separate bills. The plan, according to interlocutors of the authoritative publication The Hill, is to pass all four bills through a procedural rule that allows for changes.
The fourth bill related to national security, according to one of the lawmakers of the House, will include the blocking of the social network TikTok, as well as a provision that allows the United States to use seized Russian assets to help Ukraine.
The US Senate approved a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan (60 billion of which was earmarked for Ukraine) in February.
However, Donald Trump’s supporters in Congress and their nominee Speaker Johnson refused to support this law and demanded that the allocation of money to Ukraine be linked to either the transition to the Mexican border or to licensing export of liquefied gas. Recently they set a new condition – to provide partial credit assistance.
Zelensky said that Ukraine agrees to US loan assistance, because now it is “not important.”
The White House opposes a separate bill to help Israel without helping Ukraine. This is what the press secretary of the US presidential administration, Karine Jean-Pierre, said. According to him, a separate bill will not help Israel and Ukraine.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.