Photo credit © Reuters
(Reuters) – If Ukraine does not receive promised US military aid, currently blocked due to a dispute in Congress between Democrats and Republicans, its forces will have to withdraw “in small steps”, the Ukrainian president warned Volodimir Zelensky, in an interview published Friday by the Washington Post.
“If there is no American support, that means we have no air defense, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-millimeter artillery shells,” he listed.
“This means that we will go back, retreat, step by step, with small steps,” he continued. “We are trying to find a way not to go backwards,” he added.
The shortage of ammunition means “we have to do with less,” he also stressed. “How? Of course, by retreating. Reduce the front line. If it breaks, the Russians will be able to go to the big cities,” he warned.
Read also…
Democratic President Joe Biden has urged the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to approve the military and financial aid package, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has been delaying passage of the bill since months, citing national priorities.
(Reporting Ron Popeski, French version Claude Chendjou)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.