Zelensky on Ukraine aid: 'This month is the difficulties'

beijingwalker · Nov 23, 2023

Zelensky on Ukraine aid: 'This month is the difficulties'

by Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent
November 22, 2023 12:42 PM

'THIS MONTH IS THE DIFFICULTIES.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared in a Fox News interview Tuesday evening with Benjamin Hall, the Fox reporter who was grievously wounded covering the war in Ukraine but has now recovered and recently visited the country. This is just an impression, but while it would be too much to say that Zelensky appeared beaten, he certainly appeared subdued by the grim reality of the situation Ukraine faces after 20 months of war with Russia.

Zelensky chose to do the interview in English, and some of his answers were a bit awkwardly worded. But his recognition of the perilous situation Ukraine is in was unmistakable.

Hall began the interview by noting that the Israel-Hamas war has taken attention away from the war in Ukraine. "The eyes of the world have moved elsewhere," Hall said. "They're looking at Israel. How has that affected you?"
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"It doesn't have good influence on Ukraine," Zelensky answered. "It doesn't help us. But we understand that this is also a challenge for the world, Middle East, the situation in Middle East. And we are trying to help from our side how we can. I know that that is really, really was a big wish of Russia to do it, what they've been — what's been done on the Middle East. And with the help of the Iranian, their Iranian partners."
The point was that Zelensky knows very well that the Israel-Hamas war has created a competing cause for U.S. support, which means Ukraine risks receiving less support going forward. And as some Ukraine aid proponents on Capitol Hill have tried to do, he sought to tie the two wars together by linking them to Russia.

Hall also brought up the failure of Ukraine's much-discussed counteroffensive. "Do you feel that without having advances on the battlefield, the counteroffensive not going as planned, that sends a bad message?" Hall asked.

"This is not the good message, this is true," Zelensky conceded. "But I just want to say that we are — we staying strong gets difficult for us. Yes, we need more successful results on the battlefield. We need it for us, first of all." Zelensky also wanted viewers to know that Ukraine has had its victories, too. "This is not movie, we — you know, it can't be magic each day. I think that we had success in Crimea. We had success in Black Sea. We really destroyed it mostly the part of Russian fleet, the Black Sea fleet. We did it. We move them. They don't have such total influence on the Black Sea region."

Finally, Hall addressed the critical topic of U.S. support. "A growing number of Americans think that the money being spent in Ukraine is too much, that that should be spent in America," Hall said. "What would your message be to them to tell them that this war does matter?"

Zelensky thanked "all Americans who have been with us during this war for their support." Then he added: "But of course, if we're speaking about the Congress, about the unity, around the health of Ukraine, of course, this month is the difficulties."

Zelensky said Ukraine wants to produce more arms for itself. But echoing a number of American politicians, he said the U.S. producing arms for Ukraine is also a big benefit for the U.S. "When you produce it for Ukraine and with Ukraine, you produce it also with Americans," Zelensky said. "So, the big part will be production in your state, different states. Yes, also in Ukraine, that is jobs for Americans and for Ukrainians. It's very important." Zelensky also noted that Ukrainians are the ones dying in battle, not Americans or Europeans. "I don't wish you, of course, to lose your soldiers," he said.

And then finally: "I hope that Congress will help us, and I hope that the help of United States will be around Ukrainian people, and hope that the United States will be with us against Russian terrorism."
The problem, of course, is that a growing number of Americans do not support continued U.S. aid to Ukraine, or at least continued aid at current levels. In August, a CNN poll found that 55% of respondents said Congress "should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine in the war with Russia," while 51% agreed that the U.S. "has already done enough to stop Russian military actions in Ukraine." In early October, a Reuters poll found that "support is falling among Americans of both major political parties for supplying Ukraine with weapons." Among Republicans in particular, a more recent Gallup poll found that 62% of GOP voters say the U.S. is doing too much to help Ukraine, while a significant portion of independents, 44%, and just 14% of Democrats agreed.

So far, President Joe Biden's request for more than $60 billion in additional Ukraine military aid has gone nowhere. Biden and his Democratic allies have attempted to hold aid to Israel hostage in order to win the passage of aid for Ukraine. But that has just led to a standoff with the House Republican majority.

Elite opinion, too, is in flux. Last week, Foreign Affairs, the journal published by the Council on Foreign Relations, published an article titled "Redefining Success in Ukraine." Authors Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan wrote that the war is on an "unsustainable trajectory" and that "Kyiv's war aims — the expulsion of Russian forces from Ukrainian land and the full restoration of its territorial integrity, including Crimea — remain legally and politically unassailable. But strategically they are out of reach, certainly for the near future and quite possibly beyond."