Zelensky says Ukraine forces will have to retreat if US fails to give military aid
- The president said if there is no US support, ‘we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps’
- His plea came as Russia intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy and other infrastructure in recent weeks
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Friday that if Ukraine does not get promised US military aid blocked by disputes in Congress, its forces will have to retreat “in small steps”.
“If there is no US support, it means that we have no air defence, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155mm artillery rounds,” Zelensky told The Washington Post.
“It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps,” he said. “We are trying to find some way not to retreat.”
Shortages of munitions, he said, meant “you have to do with less. How? Of course, to go back. Make the frontline shorter. If it breaks, the Russians could go to the big cities.”
Democratic President Joe Biden has urged the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives to endorse the military and financial aid package, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has held up the matter for months, citing domestic priorities.
Zelensky told Johnson in a telephone conversation on Thursday that approval of the package was vital.
