Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News late Tuesday that Ukraine will lose the war if Washington, its main military backer, withdraws funding.
The Ukrainian leader said that it would be “very dangerous if we lose unity in Europe, and the most important thing is the unity between Ukraine and the United States”.
US President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to end US involvement in wars and instead use taxpayer money to improve the lives of Americans.
He said he would end the Russian-Ukrainian war within 24 hours, without saying how.
“If they cut, I think we will lose,” Zelenskyy told Fox News.
“Of course, we will still stay, we will fight, we have our production, but it is not enough to get ahead and he thinks it is not enough to survive.”
Asked if Trump could influence Putin to end the war, Zelensky said: “It won’t be easy, but yes, he can, because he is stronger than Putin.”
“Putin is weaker than the US. The president of the United States has power, authority and weapons and can lower the price of energy resources.”
Many Republicans want to stop US taxpayer funding of Ukraine.
Senator JD Vance, who will be Trump’s vice president, has regularly objected to providing arms to Ukraine, arguing that the US lacks the production capacity.
Earlier this year, he told the Munich Security Conference that Europe should wake up and the US must “redirect” its focus to East Asia.
Many voters share that sentiment, with 62% of Republicans in a Pew Research poll saying the US has no responsibility for supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Ukraine fired long-range US-supplied missiles into Russian territory for the first time on Tuesday, a day after the US gave permission for their use.
US President Joe Biden has also agreed to provide anti-personnel landmines, a US defense official told the BBC.
However, Zelensky said that Ukraine is going through a “very difficult period” on the battlefield.
Russia’s military is accelerating its gains along the front line, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Its analysis found that Russian forces occupied six times more territory in 2024 than in the previous year.
Based on confirmed images from social media and reports of troop movements, ISW said that Moscow’s forces have occupied around 2,700 km2 of Ukrainian territory so far this year, compared to only 465 km2 for all of 2023.
Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region falters as Russian troops push back Kiev’s offensive.
Zelenskyi also had harsh words for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talking to Putin on the phone last week.
He told Fox News it was a “Pandora’s box” because Putin’s isolation would increase pressure on him.
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