Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a standing ovation at the National Defense University in Washington Monday after delivering a powerful speech emphasizing the importance of defeating Russia in Ukraine. In his address, Zelenskyy thanked Americans for their support and said that Ukrainian forces have taken back 50% of the territory they lost to Russia. He also urged for continued support from the US in order to win the fight against Russia.
The Ukrainian president was in Washington for a visit aimed at persuading Congress to provide more military aid to Ukraine before funding runs out. During his speech, Zelenskyy warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin sees a chance, he will not stop there.
“His [Putin’s] weapon against you right now is propaganda and disinformation. But if he sees a chance, he’ll go further,” he said. “Now he’s shifting Russia’s economy and society on[to’ what he calls ‘war tracks.’”
In his remarks at the National Defense University, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin maintained that US support in Ukraine is unshakeable and warned, “If we do not stand up [to] the Kremlin’s aggression today, if we do not deter other would-be aggressors, we will only invite more aggression, more bloodshed and more chaos.”
“Now despite his crimes, and despite his isolation, Putin still believes that he can outlast Ukraine, and that he can outlast America. But he is wrong,” Austin said.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy is expected to go to Capitol Hill and to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. Biden has asked Congress for a $110 billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel, along with other national security priorities. Ukraine would get over $61 billion of the money.
The US has already provided Ukraine $111 billion for its fight against Russia’s 2022 invasion. Zelenskyy’s visit is intended “to underscore the United States’ unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia’s brutal invasion,” the White House said in a statement Sunday.
Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday, an IMF spokesperson said, as the fund’s executive board prepared to release more funds from the country’s $15.6 billion loan program. The IMF last month announced a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on updated economic and financial policies, paving the way for a $900 million disbursement once it is finalized by the board.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during television interviews Sunday that the stakes are especially high for Ukraine, given that “we are running out of funding” for the Ukrainians. He also pointed out that 90% of the money that goes to Ukraine’s assistance is invested in the US.
“In terms of the production of materials and munitions and weapons that go to the Ukrainians, it’s right here, in America,” he said.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected two nuclear submarines, the Krasnoyarsk and Emperor Alexander III, at the Sevmash shipbuilding yard at the arctic port of Severodvinsk, in a televised ceremony Monday. The Emperor Alexander III is part of Russia’s new Borei (Arctic Wind) class of nuclear submarines, the first new generation Russia has launched since the Cold War.
Security analysts say nuclear arms have assumed a greater importance in Putin’s thinking and rhetoric since the start of the Ukraine conflict, where his conventional forces are locked in a grinding war of attrition with no end in sight.
In Poland, a month-long blockade by protesting Polish truck drivers has been partially lifted at one border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook Monday. So far, 15 trucks had passed into Ukraine through the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing while 25 trucks were being cleared to head the other way toward Poland, said Kubrakov.
Blockades continued to stop traffic on three other crossings. Polish truckers have been pushing to stop Ukrainian drivers from getting permit-