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Ukraine war: Zelensky urges US to help it defeat Russia
Ukraine is “alive and kicking” and will never surrender, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, in a defiant address to US lawmakers on his first foreign trip since Russia’s invasion.
US military aid to Ukraine was not charity, but an investment in security for the future, Mr Zelensky said.
His appeal comes amid signs US support is likely to face greater scrutiny by Republican lawmakers in Congress.
But President Joe Biden vowed to stick by Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
Mr Biden pledged a new $2bn (£1.7bn) aid package and promised another $45bn.
At a joint news conference, Mr Biden told reporters he was “not at all worried” about holding the international coalition together.
Zelensky makes his pitch - will US sceptics buy it?
Fact file: Patriot missile defence
Amid concerns that some allies may be feeling the strain of the conflict’s cost and disruption to global food and energy supplies, the US president said he felt “very good” about the solidarity of support for Ukraine.
As Ukraine’s most important ally, the US has already committed $50bn (£41bn) of humanitarian, financial and security assistance - far more than any other country.
Mr Zelensky - wearing his trademark combat-green sweatshirt and boots - expressed hope that Congress would pass an extra $45bn in aid to Ukraine - currently before the US Senate - to “help us to defend our values and independence”.
Republicans - who will take control of the House of Representatives in January - have warned they will not write a “blank cheque” for Ukraine.
In fact, Republican support for continued assistance has been eroding. In a survey conducted in November, just over half of Republican voters supported aid to Ukraine - down from 80% in March.
But Mr Zelensky, who travelled on a US Air Force jet from the Polish city of Rzeszow, said that “regardless of changes in the Congress”, he believed there would be bipartisan support for his country.
And he made his plea in emotive terms before a joint session of Congress - a speech that was interrupted 18 times with standing ovations by nearly all members of Congress, with the exception of some Republican lawmakers who did not clap.
Speaking in English, he told them his country was still standing “against all odds” and predicted “a turning point” in the conflict next year.
To illustrate the brutality of the war, Mr Zelensky evoked US troops fighting the Nazis during World War Two.
“The Russians’ tactic is primitive. They burn down and destroy everything they see. They sent convicts to the front lines, to the war. They threw everything against us, similar to the other tyranny, which in the Battle of the Bulge threw everything it had against the free world.
Concluding his speech, Mr Zelensky presented Congress with a battle flag signed by the defenders of Bakhmut, a frontline city in the east of Ukraine that he visited on the eve of his Washington trip.
The package of security assistance announced by Washington on Wednesday includes a new Patriot missile system, which is expected to help Ukraine protect its cities from missiles and drones that Russia has fired at critical facilities.
President Zelensky’s US visit in 90 seconds
Russia-Ukraine war: Top official Rogozin wounded in Ukrainian
ARussian former deputy prime minister has been injured after shelling hit a hotel in a Russiancontrolled area of eastern Ukraine, reports say.
Dmitry Rogozin, who also once led the space agency, said he was hit above the shoulder blade.
Another person is said to have been killed in the attack on the outskirts of Donetsk city.
Vitaly Khotsenko, who heads Russia’s proxy Donetsk People’s Republic, was also reportedly wounded.
Mr Rogozin is widely known for his anti-Western rhetoric and his support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He was replaced as Roscosmos space agency chief in the summer, following suggestions that the Kremlin would give him a key role in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine. Instead he appears to lead a volunteer unit called Tsar’s Wolves that provides support to Russia’s proxy forces in the east.
He turned 59 on Wednesday but denied reports that he was celebrating his birthday at the local Shesh-Besh hotel, adding someone had leaked details of where he was ahead of the attack.
An aide told Russian media the hotel had been targeted by precision-guided munitions, probably fired by a Frenchmade howitzer.
Donetsk has been controlled by Russia’s proxy authorities since 2014, who have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of targeting the city.
Although Russian forces have seized areas of the Donetsk region further south since the invasion began in February, they have struggled to push the Ukrainian army back from the outskirts of the city itself.
Source: BBC
