Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Kyiv will lose the war against Russia if the US Congress does not approve military aid to confront Moscow's invasion.
“It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelensky said during a video meeting of Kyiv-organized fundraising platform United24.
Zelensky’s plea comes hours after the Ukrainian President had warned his country could run out of air defense missiles if Russia keeps up its intense long-range bombing campaign.
The deteriorating situation faced by Ukraine’s air defenses follows weeks of Russian strikes on the energy system, towns and cities using a broad arsenal of missiles and drones.
“If they keep hitting (Ukraine) every day the way they have for the last month, we might run out of missiles, and the partners know it,” he said in an interview that aired on Ukrainian television.
Zelensky, who has been appealing to allies for weeks to rush in more air defenses, said that Ukraine had enough stockpiles to cope for the moment, but that it was already having to make difficult choices about what to protect.
He singled out in particular the need for Patriot air defense systems and said Ukraine needed 25 of them, according to Reuters.
The sophisticated US air defense system has been vital during Russian attacks with ballistic and hypersonic missiles which can hit targets within a matter of minutes.
Despite the difficult field situation, Zelensky expressed cautious optimism that the US Congress would eventually endorse a supplementary aid package for Kyiv.
He said he believes that “we can get a positive vote from the US Congress.”
Responding to reports indicating that Kyiv would be open to receiving assistance from the US in the form of a loan, Zelensky said, “Let’s be frank: we will agree to any option.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army on Sunday said that the situation around eastern Ukraine's frontline city of Chasiv Yar is “difficult and tense,” adding that the Russian invaders were now “in retreat.”
Russian forces have unleashed “constant fire” in the area in recent days seeking to seize the city's dominant heights, AFP reported.
Chasiv Yar lies less than 30 kilometers southeast of the regional town of Kramatorsk, an important rail and logistics hub for Ukraine's army.
“The situation is difficult enough and tense,” said Oleg Kalashnikov, spokesman for an army brigade deployed in the area.
“The Russians are trying to carry out assaults directly on the small towns of Bohdanivka and Ivanivske, outside Chasiv Yar,” Kalashnikov told Ukrainian television.
“They are also trying to carry out offensive actions between the two places,” he added.
The Russian army was “using infantry backed by armored fighting vehicles,” and “warplanes.”
“But all their attacks have been repelled. They are in retreat,” the spokesman said.
On Friday, Russian occupying authorities said Moscow's troops were advancing towards Chasiv Yar.
The DeepState Telegram channel, which is close to the Ukrainian army, had reported that Russian soldiers were at proximity of the city outskirts.
Kalashnikov on Sunday stressed the strategic importance of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region, 20 kilometers west of Bakhmut.
“If Russia takes the devastated town of Chasiv Yar, where 770 people remain out of a pre-invasion population of 13,000, it will be able to bombard Kostiantynivka,” 10 kilometers to the southwest, he warned.
“The enemy will also be able to threaten logistics routes [between Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk],” Kalashnikov said, adding that the last two places could also come under direct attack.
Separately, the Moscow-controlled management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station (ZNPP) said that Ukraine attacked a cargo area and then the dome above reactor No. 6, with no indication of damage, Reuters said.
Later, Russia’s TASS news agency cited the plant’s management as saying that Ukrainian drones struck the area of the cargo port and canteen located on the territory of the plant.
A truck unloading food was damaged, it said, adding that the radiation background and the adjacent territory has not changed following the two attacks.
Later on Sunday, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on X that its “experts have been informed by ZNPP that a drone detonated on site today. Such detonation is consistent with IAEA observations.”
Russian forces took control of the plant in 2022 shortly after their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear accident by attacking the plant.
