Lacking aid, Ukraine considers withdrawing troops

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if Kiev does not receive promised military aid from Washington, Ukrainian forces will be forced to withdraw "step by step".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives on March 28. Photo: Reuters

In an interview published by the Washington Post on March 29,
Mr. Zelensky stated that without support from the US, Ukraine would not have air defense systems, Patriot missiles, radio jammers for electronic warfare, as well as 155mm artillery shells...

This means Ukraine will have to withdraw its troops, "gradually, step by step".

Mr. Zelensky also emphasized that the shortage of ammunition will force Ukraine to narrow the front line and abandon many of the positions it currently controls. He affirmed that Kiev is taking advantage of domestic weapons and air defense systems but still cannot make up for the aid gap.

In a rare interview published on the same day, Ukraine's newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Russia was six times stronger than Ukrainian forces on the frontline. Syrsky warned that the country's defense forces were carrying out their tasks with "little or no weapons and ammunition," and said the situation was "tense" in some areas.

A day earlier, President Zelensky had a phone call with US House Speaker Mike Johnson, calling on the US Congress to quickly pass a new military aid package for Kiev.

For months, the US House of Representatives has delayed a vote on a bill to provide $60 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov recently said that 50 percent of Western weapons were delayed, making the country’s military difficult in its conflict with Russia. Ukraine has received only a third of the millions of artillery shells that the European Union (EU) promised to deliver in March last year.

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