“Step by step”
Zelensky: Without US aid, Ukraine must withdraw
March 30, 2024, 4:27 p.m
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The military situation in Ukraine is currently tense. In an interview, President Zelensky outlined what would happen if the country invaded by Russia no longer received US aid. He is also renewing his campaign for additional cruise missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns of another blockade of US military aid in Congress. “If there is no US support, it means that we have no anti-aircraft defense, no Patriot missiles, no electronic warfare jammers, no 155-millimeter artillery shells,” Zelensky said in a detailed interview with the “Washington Post”. “That means we are retreating, retreating, step by step, in small steps,” he said.
Zelensky also spoke about other topics. He outlined the military situation with an example. “If you need 8,000 rounds a day to defend the front line but only have 2,000 rounds available, you have to do less,” he explained. The solution is to shorten the front line. “If it breaks, the Russians could go to the big cities.”
The Ukrainian troops were looking for a way to avoid having to retreat. After the fall of Avdiivka last February, Zelensky said, “we stabilized the situation thanks to smart steps by our military.” He leaves it open what those were. At the same time, he explained: If the front line remains stable in its current form, Ukraine will be able to train enough brigades for a new counteroffensive.
Call for ATACM cruise missiles
According to its president, Ukraine is also forced to retaliate. “If you don’t take steps forward to prepare for another counteroffensive, Russia will,” Zelensky said. That’s what the war taught him: “If you don’t do something, Russia will do it.”
In addition, Zelenskyj defended the Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil depots in an interview with the Washington Post. According to the US newspaper, there were rumors in Washington that US officials had warned of such attacks. “The US reaction was not positive,” Zelensky confirmed. However, Kiev uses its own, home-made weapons. “We used our drones. Nobody can tell us that you can’t do that.”
Zelensky also renewed his request for the US ATACM cruise missiles. “If Russia has missiles and we don’t, they attack with missiles: everything – gas, energy, schools, factories, civilian buildings,” he said. Most recently, the Russian missiles hit the port city of Odessa and other targets. “ATACM-300s, that’s the answer,” Zelensky explained. The rockets have according to the manufacturer a range of up to 300 kilometers.
However, the Ukrainian president made it clear that the missiles’ targets were not in Russia – but rather airfields on the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed ten years ago. “If Russia knows that we can destroy these jets, they will not attack from Crimea. It’s like the sea fleet. We drove them out of our territorial waters. Now we will drive them out of the airports in Crimea.”