(Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy minimized the loss of the eastern town of Avdiivka to Russian forces and urged for faster support from allies as the war against Russia neared the two-year mark, as aired on Wednesday.
Russian forces gained control of Avdiivka last week, marking Moscow’s biggest advance since capturing Bakhmut in May. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia will continue its push through eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, in excerpts from an interview with Fox News to be aired on Thursday, admitted that the previous year had been challenging for Ukraine, especially towards the end of 2023.
Speaking in English, he emphasized earlier gains, particularly in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where the Fox interview took place.
“During these two years we regained part of the Kharkiv region. Now we are in this region … and we unblocked the Black Sea. There are grain routes and we destroyed a lot of their ships of the Russian fleet,” Zelenskiy said.
“That is what we did over two years. And what could they do? Only this one place. But what for?”
Avdiivka is located 15 km (nine miles) northwest of the Russian-held main town of Donetsk region, also named Donetsk. Russian analysts believe its capture will protect Donetsk from Ukrainian shelling as Moscow plans its campaign to capture all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In his remarks, Zelenskiy expressed dissatisfaction with the slowdown in Western aid for Ukraine’s war effort, without specifically mentioning the United States.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s request to extend a significant aid package has been delayed by dispute in the U.S. Congress.
“We have to be quicker. That means to eliminate all the bureaucracy. Otherwise, we will not have any chance,” he said.
The president recognized that finding an alternative to U.S. support would not be easy.
“Of course, we will find. We will not stay in the same place. We have to survive. We have to find some parallel steps,” he said in the interview, conducted in part on a hospital ward.
“You understand that this help is crucial. So without it, sorry, we will have more and more such heroic guys who will be in the hospitals. If you don’t have a real defending shield and similar powerful artillery with rounds, of course you will lose people.”
The U.S. Senate has passed a $95 billion aid package that includes funds for Ukraine, but House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has declined to bring it up for a vote on the floor of the House.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Stephen Coates)
