Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the White House for pledging an additional $500 million in direct aid but said he was open with US President Biden about Ukraine needing more to resist the Russian invasion.
“If we really are fighting for freedom and in defense of democracy together, then we have a right to demand help in this difficult turning point,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation Wednesday. “Tanks, aircraft, artillery systems. Freedom should be armed no worse than tyranny.”
Prior to Wednesday's announcement of $500 million in aid, the Biden administration had sent Ukraine about $2 billion in humanitarian and security assistance since the start of the war last month. That's all part of the $13.6 billion that Congress approved earlier this month for Ukraine as part of a broader spending bill.
Zelenskyy said that the negotiations with Russia were continuing but for now, they were only “words without specifics.”
About the supposed withdrawal of Russian forces from Kyiv and Chernihiv, Zelenskyy said: “We know that this is not a withdrawal but the consequences of being driven out. But we also are seeing that Russia is now concentrating its forces for new strikes on Donbas and we are preparing for this.”
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Published 31 March 2022, 06:40 IST