Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the northeastern front on Tuesday and inspected Western tanks and armor, coinciding with the preparation in the United States of a new military aid package that should be available soon.
Ukraine is trying to counter the perception that the US Congress excluded new aid to the country in the interim budget adopted last Saturday to keep the Government operational for 45 days, reaffirming that the level of support from Washington has not weakened.
President Joe Biden’s administration requested another additional $24 billion (€22.7 billion).
“The question is whether what happened in Congress last week is an isolated or systematic issue,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, highlighted this Tuesday in an interview with the Ukrinform news agency that aid to Ukraine guarantees the support of Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress in Washington.
Since last Saturday, several political leaders in Kiev and other European capitals have expressed concern about what they consider a “gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and when the Kremlin has insisted on the possible “fatigue” of the United States and the West in its military support for Ukraine.
Also this Tuesday, Biden contacted his key allies – the leaders of the G7, the European Union and NATO – to assure them that the United States is committed to supporting Kiev militarily, with a new announcement to be revealed later this week , according to the North American digital newspaper Político.
The US president plans, according to the same source, to allay concerns that Republican fears could give Putin new impetus for his war plan as autumn and winter approach in Ukraine.
This Tuesday, Zelensky traveled to Kupiansk-Liman, one of the most active frontline combat zones, in northeastern Ukraine, where he visited several brigades to obtain information about the situation on the battlefield and the needs of soldiers.
In parallel, together with a tank unit of the 21st independent mechanized brigade, he evaluated the equipment transferred by the West to the Ukrainian army, in particular the Leopard-2 tanks and the Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles.
The Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, considered this Tuesday that the Russian Armed Forces “considerably weakened” the military potential of Ukraine, by causing a high number of casualties and destroying military material.
In this sense, Shoigu highlighted the Liman area, where Zelensky appeared hours later.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 of last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied weapons to kyiv and passed successive sanctions packages against Russian interests to try to diminish Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.
Source: TSF
