President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated the need to accelerate the delivery of military assistance to Ukraine as part of the $61 billion support package approved by the US Congress in April this year.
“It is very important that this (the decision of the Congress to help Ukraine – IF-U) was adopted. It is a weapon for us, it is an important signal for Russia. And it is important that it was a united positive decision within the United States. But I believe that not much of this amount has come today. This is my personal opinion. But I can’t staff the brigades, the reserves, just to change the brigades that are standing, so that there is a normal rotation,” Zelensky said in an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday.
Thus, he said, “Russia clearly understands this – what they are doing with Kharkiv and why they are going north and looking in that direction – to stretch the front.”
“They know that we have an understaffed reserve, they know that we cannot send a reserve without the appropriate weapons – the way they send theirs like meat. They understand that our troops in the east, and the Russian Federation does not abandon its main goal of occupying the entire east of our country, need to stretch our forces. They are stretching our front and understand that if enough (weapons – IF-U) came, we would staff the brigades, we would not withdraw our forces from Donbas and could respond with our long-range (to shelling – IF-U) of Kharkiv region,” the president said.
At the same time, Zelensky emphasized, no one is blaming anyone. “We are where we are. We are at war. And not at the beginning of it. And so we need to look for a way out of the situation every day.”
He also noted that, in general, the amount allocated by Congress is large enough to equip Ukrainian brigades easily and quickly, but, in his opinion, it is coming slowly.
“And everyone is happy, everyone is happy that they managed (to agree on the aid to Ukraine – IF-U), that everyone put pressure on the US together, bipartisan support, 61 billion – and it is just beginning to be transferred to us, coming to us. But Russia is faster. Russia is slower than Ukraine, but faster than the West. And this is a problem. And if every minute can take away people’s lives, then we want faster deliveries (from the US – IF-U). It’s just that the price of this is more painful for us than for our partner countries. Because no one in their families died. And thank God! But you don’t know what war is until it comes to your home,” Zelensky emphasized.
He also emphasized that “this speed is constantly lacking in the West, in our partners,” adding that this could be due to various reasons, including bureaucratic ones or “a different approach to life in non-war time.”
“In war, you have other priorities: survival, people, children – this is the main thing. And when you’re safe, you get used to it, and that’s why your time goes differently. You don’t need to survive now, because the next second you might be killed. For example, you are in Kharkiv, and if you don’t go down to the bomb shelter – and their (Russian – IF-U) weapons are 60 km, 100 km away – and you don’t go down, you could be dead,” Zelensky summarized.
