Ukraine Urgency: Preparing for Potential Changes in US Policy

Zelenskyy avoided directly blaming the retreat from Avdiivka on a lack of ammunition from Ukraine’s key allies, but stressed the need to rearm and destroy Russia’s air fleet.

TFD – Amidst rising tensions, President Zelenskyy urges readiness for potential shifts in US policy to safeguard Ukraine’s defense.

KYIV, Ukraine Rejecting the notion that the war had come to a standstill two years after Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that his country urgently needs artillery and air defenses from its allies in order to continue defending itself against Russia.

From the fringes of the “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum in Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Zelenskyy, intends to push his conflict farther into Europe, toward Poland and the Baltic nations. Zelenskyy made this claim when speaking with NBC News on Sunday. Two years have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and Zelenskyy revealed the number of soldiers lost on Sunday at the conference. 31,000 have died in the fight.

Zelenskyy declared, “If the world will not stop him, he will do it till 2030,” alluding to the near-certainty that Putin will win a second term as president.

In response to Russia dropping 3,200 bombs in the area, Zelenskyy emphasized the need to destroy Russia’s air fleet and avoided directly attributing the military’s recent loss of the strategic city of Avdiivka to a lack of ammunition from Ukraine’s main allies.

Zelenskyy wants his friends to understand that he can utilize air defenses in Ukraine to safeguard hospitals, historical sites, and citizens. It can also be used to defeat this fleet and defend [against] Russians.

“Therefore, stop being afraid of Russia if partners are ready to do it—not so slow way,” he stated. “We will succeed if they are prepared. If not, they will keep attacking us without stopping.

Zelenskyy stated that he hopes the United States wants Ukraine to prevail in the conflict since there is no other option but to have faith in the United States to honor its aid commitments.

“We rely on our allies, and I sincerely hope that this is more than just rhetoric and that the true goal is to strengthen the Russian people, not to weaken them,” Zelenskyy stated.

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U.S. aid for Ukraine has been stalled in Congress since late last year. The Senate easily approved a $95 billion aid package for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine on February 13. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has declined to bring the Senate measure to the House floor, arguing that before providing Ukraine with additional aid, Congress must implement strict new border regulations.

Following the passing of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the White House imposed 500 more penalties on Russia on Friday in an effort to bolster support for Ukraine. In an open statement, President Joe Biden accused Putin of killing Navalny.

The penalties announced on Friday are the broadest since the invasion’s start two years ago. They target not just the financial industry, defense industry base, procurement networks, and people involved in Navalny’s detention in Russia, but also sanction evaders operating on other continents.

Zelenskyy stated on Friday that American backing was “fundamental to our defense both in terms of its content and the signal that support or nonsupport for this package sends to the world,” when addressing a group of senators headed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Lviv.

In reference to Russia, he continued, there is a “direct correlation” on the battlefield between the quantity of weaponry that Ukraine is able to obtain and “the results achieved by our common enemy.”

He said on Friday, “Sufficiency of long-range capabilities and artillery are key things for us.”

Russian forces have been waging offensives in Kharkiv, in the northeast, for weeks in an effort to shift the front line away from the area’s border with Russia and lessen the frequency of Ukrainian attacks on Russian border cities.

Russian war bloggers and Western analysts also reported on renewed fighting in the town of Robotyne, which was liberated by Ukrainian troops last August in what was at the time considered a significant victory that could move Kyiv closer to upending Russia’s land bridge to occupied Crimea, in the strategically important southern region of Zaporizhzhia.

Earlier in February, Zelenskyy abruptly dismissed Army Cmdr. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi as the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, citing the need for “urgent changes” in response to months of rumored strategic disagreements between the two.

Zaluzhnyi, who was well-liked by both the military and the civilian population in Ukraine, was replaced by Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who had headed the army’s ground troops in the past.

There were rumors that Zaluzhnyi and Zelenskyy had a falling out over the latter’s support for the widespread mobilization of civilians to strengthen the ranks of the armed forces.

At a press conference Saturday with world leaders, Zelenskyy commended the “choice made by Ukrainians of different ages, different professions, and from different regions” to unite “in lines to the military enlistment offices, and then in one trench on the front line.”

He went on, “Two years ago, we met an enemy landing force here with fire,” implying that there was only one potential result to the conflict: military triumph and peace on Ukrainian terms.

Zelenskyy stated to NBC News that he does not want the conflict to linger for millennia and that in order for Ukraine to continue defending its citizens, friends must send in a sizable amount of weaponry.

He hopes that America’s approach toward Ukraine won’t be impacted by the impending elections there.

“I hope that the nation’s policies remain unchanged and are independent of the next president,” Zelenskyy remarked.

“We need to be prepared in case the United States changes its policy.”