Time is running out.
In the US, they have not yet agreed on new support for Ukraine.
– The price for fixing the mess in the world if we lose will be much, much higher, warns Foreign Minister Kuleba.
The Biden administration and House Republicans have yet to reach an agreement on a broader funding deal, which would include an additional $60 billion in support for Ukraine’s war effort.
In an interview with ABC News appeals to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for a new agreement, saying that more money for Ukraine would avoid a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia, where US troops would be forced to intervene.
– Regardless of the price of supporting Ukraine now, the price of fixing the mess in the world if Ukraine loses will be much, much higher, says Kuleba and continues:
– If the West cannot stop Russia in Ukraine, who else can stop them in other parts of the world?
Spades instead of fighter jets
Reports that there is supposed to be “battle fatigue” and failing morale in Ukraine are not something that the foreign minister believes.
– Even if we run out of weapons, we will fight with spades, because what is at stake for Ukraine is the existence of the nation, he tells ABC News.
In recent weeks, Russian troops have gained ground in eastern Ukraine, around the key town of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast. Kuleba believes that these “minimal Russian successes have come at an extremely high price,” and rejects the idea that Russia now has the upper hand on the battlefield.
Kuleba goes on to say that the Russian military has “learned its lessons” and is now much better adapted to war – but still predicts more defeats for Russia this year.
At the same time, authorities in Kharkiv are ordering citizens of more than 20 villages near the front to evacuate, AFP reports.