Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the U.S. Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package to help his country defend against invading Russian forces, saying it will be a cheaper alternative than the consequences of a Russian victory.
Speaking with the conservative Fox News channel in an interview that aired on February 22 -- two days ahead of the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor -- Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will push further into Eastern Europe if he conquers Ukraine.
"If they [Congress] want to be very pragmatic, the price we are asking now...is less than it will be in the future if [Russia] will go into NATO countries," Zelenskiy said from a bombed-out building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where he sat down for the interview as sporadic explosions were heard in the background.
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"Will Ukraine survive without Congress's support? Of course. But not all of us," he added, while inviting President Joe Biden and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to visit Ukraine and witness for themselves the situation at the front lines of "this tragedy."
After four months of debate, the U.S. Senate earlier this month passed a supplementary spending bill that allocates some $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, mainly for weapons and military equipment. However, a group of right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives has been holding it up as they seek to tie it to contentious immigration reforms at home.
The delay is having significant consequences on the battlefield, as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and air defenses. Russian troops last week captured the eastern city of Avdiyivka, the first major victory for the Kremlin since May 2023. Military experts said a lack of manpower and firepower forced Ukrainian forces to retreat from the city.
By speaking with Fox News, Zelenskiy appealed directly to conservative Americans whose support for Ukraine has declined over the past year.
According to a recent poll by Pew Research Center, nearly half of U.S. citizens who identify as Republican or Republican-leaning say the United States is giving too much support to Ukraine. Only one in six people who identify as Democrat or Democrat-leaning held that same opinion.
"At the height of the Ukraine supplemental fight, President Zelenskiy is speaking to Republicans through the media outlet that conservatives watch most," Daniel Vajdich, president of Yorktown Solutions, a Washington-based lobby firm whose clients include Ukraine, told RFE/RL.
"Zelenskiy explains to conservatives and Congressional Republicans why U.S. funding for Ukraine is in fact a rational U.S. investment of its resources," he said.
Fox News is the top-rated U.S. cable channel by daily viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, reaching 1.2 million people in a 24-hour period, as much as MSNBC and CNN combined.
Zelenskiy addressed concerns often voiced by right-wing Republicans over aid, corruption, elections, and a peace settlement.
He said U.S. aid -- Washington has been by far Kyiv's biggest donor -- goes for military needs, and not toward Ukrainian pensions. In fact, some Democrats have argued, most of the aid goes to American companies who receive the contracts to supply weapons to Kyiv.
Still, Zelenskiy said Ukraine's government was moving forward with Western-backed anti-corruption reforms and denied he was seeking to postpone elections to stay in power. Zelenskiy said the constitution does not allow elections to be held during wartime.
Ukraine's next round of presidential elections were scheduled for this year.
Despite few territorial changes to the 1,000-kilometer front line since 2023, Zelenskiy rejected the idea that the war had reached a stalemate. When asked about the prospects of peace negotiations, the Ukrainian leader said that Putin can't be trusted, adding the Russian leader will never give up trying to get full control of the country.
He said Putin's negotiating position will weaken with time as Russia suffers more losses on the battlefield. In the meantime, he said, Ukraine will prepare for another counteroffensive and promised Russia's forces in the south would get "some surprises."
The interview comes exactly two weeks after popular conservative commentator Tucker Carlson -- once one of Fox's most popular hosts -- aired his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The authoritarian Kremlin leader claimed in the interview that Ukraine was a threat to Russia because it was seeking to join NATO. Western experts say Putin uses the NATO argument to camoflage his imperial ambitions.
Carlson has long questioned Washington's support for Kyiv. In May 2022, he claimed the Biden administration was arming Ukraine to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election.
When asked about when the war will end, Zelenskiy said that depended on Western resolve. He said the West was afraid of what will happen to Russia -- the world's second-biggest nuclear power -- if it loses the war.
SEE ALSO: Interview: Putin's Strategic Mistake Was To Choose The West As An Enemy, Historian Says"We are doing everything possible for the war to end as soon as possible," Zelenskiy said.
"When the world will be ready to stop Putin? Well, let's be frank. The world is not really ready for Putin to be able to lose his power. The world is afraid of changes in [the] Russian Federation," he said.