Zelenskiy says without US aid, Ukraine forces will have to retreat

30/3/2024 13:45

        President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Friday that if Ukraine does not get promised U.S. military aid blocked by disputes in Congress, its forces will have to retreat "in small steps".
        
        "If there is no U.S. support, it means that we have no air defence, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-milimetre artillery rounds," Zelenskiy told the Washington Post.
        
        "It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps," he said. "We are trying to find some way not to retreat."
        
        Shortages of munitions, he said, meant "you have to do with less. How? Of course, to go back. Make the front line shorter. If it breaks, the Russians could go to the big cities."
        
        Democratic President Joe Biden has urged the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to endorse the military and financial aid package, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has held up the matter for months, citing domestic priorities.
        
        Zelenskiy told Johnson in a telephone conversation on Thursday that approval of the package was vital.