Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend for passing tens of billions of dollars in military aid to his country as it continues to fight against invading Russian forces.
Zelensky made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker while talking about the ammunition shortages his country has faced.
“This aid will strengthen Ukraine, and send the Kremlin a powerful signal that it will not be the second Afghanistan,” he said. “The United States will stay with Ukraine, will protect the Ukrainians, and they will protect – they will protect democracy in the world. This is the show of leadership and strength of the United States. And I think, indeed, now we’ve reached this important moment. For half a year we’ve been waiting and I would like to say thanks to all the team on my side and on the U.S. side, the team who did everything so that we would get this positive vote. And today, we definitely need this aid. And Kristen, we really need to get this to the final point. We need to get it approved by the Senate. And then we want to get things as fast as possible so that we get some tangible assistance for the soldiers on the front line as soon as possible, not in another six months, so that they will be able to move ahead.”
He said that Ukraine needed to quickly get its hands on “crucial weapon systems,” specifically ones that are long range.
“The long-range artillery and I really appreciate that it mentions ATACMs, long-range weapons,” he said. “And it’s important because we need long-range weapons to not lose people on the front line. Because we have – we have casualties because we cannot reach that far. Our weapons are not that long-range. So we need it, and air defense. This is crucial. These are the priorities now.”
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