Zelensky says Ukraine will lose the war against Russia without US aid.

 

Zelensky. New York Post/Getty.

Ukrainian President Zelensky says that Ukraine will lose the war against Russia if congress does not pass additional aid. New York Post. Zelensky said that if Ukraine loses the war, other countries could be attacked. Aid has been held up in Congress by Republicans who think that Ukraine has gotten enough money. $100 billion in aid has already been delivered to Ukraine. They are also demanding that any aid to Ukraine be paired with spending cuts and border controls to deal with the border crisis. 

My Comment:

I know Zelensky's job is to try and continue the war until the last Ukrainian is dead, but the idea that Ukraine could win the war at this point is laughable, regardless if more aid is voted for. Ukraine simply doesn't have the manpower to continue the fight much longer and the weapons that are supposed to be sent there don't actually exist. 

I also don't believe for a second that Russia would actually attack any further countries. What other territorial ambitions do they have? Maybe reconnecting Kaliningrad? They wouldn't really have a reason to do that and I don't think the Baltic states are under any real threat either. The war in Ukraine was mostly about protecting Russia's territory and Russian people in Ukraine, I don't think that motivation transfers to other countries at the moment. 

This is an important story though because as far as I know it's the first admission that Zelensky knows that he's losing. For the longest time Ukraine has been claiming that Russia is losing and that they were only a few billion dollars away from beating them for good, despite the facts on the ground that pretty obviously show otherwise. I don't know if this admission is the start of Zelensky fleeing the country or just a momentary lapse in his judgement. 

I don't think any aid should be passed for Ukraine under any circumstances, but holding it up in order to get concessions from the Democrats is a good idea. The Democrats won't vote for a bill that has border security or budget cuts in it, so it should be DOA if the Freedom Caucus gets its way. 

If a bill does pass it will be seen, correctly, as a slap in the face to Americans everywhere. People are sick of the Ukraine war and can't understand why we have to send even more money and equipment to the country. Especially when there are so many problems here at home, and even other conflicts that people care about more, like the war in Israel. It could even cost Republicans in 2024, what point is there in voting for Republicans if they just do whatever the Democrats want anyways? 

Regardless, it's a moot point, Ukraine isn't going to win the war anyways. All the bill would do is create a lot of pork for districts with defense industry factories. Which is the point anyways. Congress knows that Ukraine can't win the war but there is a lot of opportunity for pork and graft in sending billions of dollars to Ukraine. Given how corrupt Ukraine is, I am betting more than a little bit of that money will make it back to the people that voted for it...