Ukrainian president has stark new warning as battle rages on

Ukraine's presidentis giving his strongest, starkest warning yetabout the state of the war against Russia without military aidfrom the United States. Yet, sure, if Congress does not helpUkraine, Ukraine, we lose the war and we need to finda public format for this. If Ukraine losesthe war, other states would be attacked. Volodymyr Zelensky also says Russia will soonbe, quote, more and more insistent on dragging nuclear weaponsinto his debate.

Meanwhile, the head of the US HouseIntelligence Committee says Russian propaganda has absolutely spread through Congress, particularlyamong some of his Republican colleagues. A number of hardline House conservativeshave refused to back a $95 billion aid package, which includes 60 billionin assistance for Ukraine. Joining me now from Vienna is FrancesO'Grady, an associate fellow at the International Institutefor Strategic Studies. I mean, it was very clear language,wasn't it, from President Zelensky, but it's the sort of argumentthat's been made in Washington.

For some time that all of those who feelthat Ukraine needs that money from the US Well, I think it's fair to assumethat we are currently in a transitional phasewhen it comes to the war in Ukraine. Russia is conductingprobing attacks along the front line. It is trying to advance where it canand it is preparing what seems to be a future offensive down the road. And this is of course very, very worryingbecause Ukraine currentlyis also already losing territory men. And the biggest handicapthat Ukraine currently.

Has in its war against Russia is manpower. It is of course, related to ammunition,but it's not exclusively the lack of Western support. I do want to emphasize this here using the war. How do you read that? Does that meanRussia keeps the lines that it's got or that Russia continuesto take the rest of Ukraine Well, I.

Think it would be premature to saythat Ukraine is losing this war. I think overall, yes, it is truethat there are certain negative trends that are ongoing in 20, 24 for Ukraine. But I also think at the same time,this war is far from over or, you know, far from lost for Ukraine. The major issue here is manpower,ammunition and Ukraine needs both in orderto at least hold on to what they are currently, you know, holding on along the front line.

And so I think what we needyou should perhaps expect down the roadis some tactical withdrawals, some Russian advances, along parts of the frontline, perhaps even down the road, a partial collapse of certain sectorsof the Ukrainian front line. But this doesn't mean that Ukraineis going to lose this war. It just means that we probably need to beready for some bad news down the road. But it's not indicative of Ukrainelosing the struggle in the long term. There's obviously been stepping upas much as it can to fill the gap with.

Potentially the gap with usgoing into US money going into Ukraine, also coming outwith new plans for how that war could be supported from Europe,taking some pressure off the United States Is there any way that Europe could replacewhat America is giving right now? Well, not in the short term. In the long term, I think the situationmight look different. But this year, Ukraine really needs U.S. support there certain weaponssystems, certain logistical support, which the European countriessimply cannot provide to Ukraine.

So U.S. aid remains crucial, particularlywhen it comes to ammunition, when it comes to other weapons systemssuch as infantry fighting vehicles, long range air defense systems in particular,because if you've been following the news the last couple of weeks,have seen an uptick in so-called quiet bomb attacks, which are really terribleand and really causing a lot of havoc along the front line. And Ukraine desperately needs long rangeair defense systems.

And the United States is the only countrythat can really supply those, for example. Obviously, Trump comes into this argumentbecause many of his supporters are very much against funding Ukraine. But when you look at the language of Trump, you know, he you know, it'snot entirely clear what he would actually do in a situation if you base iton what you says ahead of it. But you think he's really sayingthat he would stop funding Ukraine and stop supportingUkraine or is he?.

This is a bigger issue,just that, you know, some European countries simply aren'tpaying their fair share, a share in tomato I do think it's a wake up call for Europe on many, many frontswhen it comes to these comments by the former presidentof the United States. Having said that, I do think the Europeans have realized that didn't need to step up,that they need to do more. Whether it's enough, that remains to be seen for the moment,there is no substitute for U.S.

Military aid. Unfortunately,I also want to emphasize, though, that we need to decouple the discussionabout European Western American military aid to Ukraineand to duration of this war, because the Ukrainians would continueto fight even without any Western aid, because they simply have no choicebut to resist Russian aggression. Okay, friends suffocating. Thank you so much for joiningus with your insight today.

Sharing is caring!