(Kyiv) A rapid decision by the US Congress on the release of aid to Ukraine is of “critical importance”, declared Monday President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose army is sorely lacking in ammunition against Russian troops, during a meeting with an American senator.
“It is critically important for us that Congress quickly completes all necessary procedures and makes a final decision” on aid that has been blocked for months due to prevarication between Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Zelensky said during a meeting with Senator Lindsey Graham, according to a press release from the Ukrainian presidency.
The adoption of a new aid package for Kyiv including $60 billion in military and economic assistance has been demanded for months by the Joe Biden administration. It was approved by the Senate with a Democratic majority, but remains blocked in Congress.
Its adoption is suspended at the goodwill of Donald Trump’s supporters in the House, who refuse to examine the text as it stands, due to a dispute over the regulation of immigration in the United States.
Exhausted by two years of Russian invasion, Ukraine is struggling against the Russian army, superior in number of soldiers and quantities of weapons and ammunition. In recent weeks, Russian troops have advanced into several sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine.
“We are at a critical moment for the future of armed conflict,” Senator Lindsey Graham told the press after his meeting with Mr. Zelensky.
PHOTO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENCY VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in Kyiv on March 18.
“The United States wants to help, but we have problems at home that we need to start fixing — we have a border that doesn’t work,” he added.
Mr. Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina and Mr. Trump loyalist, also indicated that he supported the former president’s proposal to provide aid to Ukraine in the form of a zero-interest loan .
“This is going to be a new way of doing business. I think it will have greater public support” in the United States, he continued. According to him, the aid could then be approved quickly by American legislators.
17 Russian drones shot down
Ukraine said on Monday it had shot down 17 combat drones out of a total of 22 drones and seven missiles launched by Russia overnight, and reported intensified Russian bombardment on its border region of Sumy, in the north. East.
PHOTO EFREM LUKATSKY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A man in front of a building damaged during heavy fighting by Russian troops in 2022 in Izium, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, March 17.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired five S-300/S-400 missiles at the Kharkiv border region (East), two Kh-59 cruise missiles at the Sumy region (Northeast) and 22 Shahed-type explosive drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram.
Of this number, 17 drones were destroyed over nine regions, mainly in the center and west of the country, she said.
The governor of the Poltava region (center) notably reported an attack on the Kremenchuk district, where the country’s largest refinery is located, already hit by several Russian strikes since the start of Moscow’s invasion there. two years ago.
Russian airstrikes on the Sumy region, which was partially occupied at the start of the invasion, have intensified in recent weeks as the Russian military has stepped up pressure on Ukrainian troops in the east and taken several localities, including the fortress town of Avdiïvka since mid-February.
“In recent days, the number of air alerts has increased considerably in the Sumy region and amounts to 40 alerts per day, or even more,” the governor of this territory, Volodymyr Artioukh, declared on television on Saturday.
Since the start of the year, the region has suffered “more than 3,000” Russian bombings compared to 8,000 over the whole of 2024, he added, deploring in particular the tripling of air strikes.
On Sunday alone, border areas in the Sumy region were shelled 60 times, then 24 times overnight, according to the regional administration.
Nearly 300 people, including around thirty children, had to be evacuated from the villages of Velyka Pysarivka and Ryjivka last week, she said on Sunday, while calling on the population “not to believe in false information about a possible offensive by Russian troops in the region.
The two villages are close respectively to the Russian border towns of Graivoron and Tiotkino, targeted in recent days by incursions by pro-Kyiv Russian fighters from Ukraine.