Expert: Ukraine depends on the support of the United States to win

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that if the US Congress does not approve the military support package for Ukraine, we will lose the war against Russia.

– It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war, Zelensky said in a video meeting with a Ukrainian fundraising organization.

Pale Ydstepo, head of the Land Energy Department at the Norwegian Defense College's War School, believes that if Ukraine receives support from EU countries in a timely manner, it will be enough to avoid losing the war in the short term. In the short term, Ydstebø aims to achieve this within the year.

But in order to win the war, Ukraine depends on this American support, and even more so if the EU does not now double down on what it plans to do, he tells ABC Nyheter.

Here you can read all about the war in Ukraine

Article continues below adArticle continues below ad

Watch the video: Ukraine: will use the “cockroach” on the front line

Open for loans

The aid package, which is supposed to amount to about $60 billion (about NOK 644 billion at today's exchange rate), is stuck in Congress because Republicans are blocking it.

– The important factor is that the United States is the one that produces many of the vital weapons systems that Ukraine needs, and has the capacity to produce such large quantities that Ukrainian forces can gain a material advantage over the Russians and begin to decide the war in their favor, points out Ydstebø.

A senior researcher at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute, Carsten Friis, explains that Ukraine depends on the support of the United States in order not to lose the war.

Article continues below adArticle continues below ad

– Even if the European Union does its best to find artillery ammunition on the global market as an alternative, this will take time, and it will not be enough. In addition, air defense is largely American, and here there are dramatic shortcomings. The city of Kharkiv is subjected to daily terrorist bombing and may become uninhabitable if this continues. The Russians destroyed Aleppo without batting an eyelid, so they know how to do it, Ferris tells ABC Nyheter.

Article continues below ad

Missing ammunition and anti-aircraft guns

Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine is open to an aid package from the United States that is given as a loan.

He also warned that Ukraine might run out of air defense if Russian attacks continue at the current rate, and that Ukraine does not have enough artillery ammunition to carry out counterattacks.

Recently, Russia rained bombs, missiles and drones on Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has long been sounding the alarm over its lack of ammunition and air defence.

Both NATO and the European Union are trying to speed up arms production in order to provide the Ukrainians with more weapons. But it takes time.