Zelensky says Ukraine’s war effort understated

Comes as some in the GOP oppose sending more aid

KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has expressed frustration over what he has labeled unrealistic expectations for rapid success on the battlefield amid concerns that slow progress against entrenched Russian forces will discourage Kyiv’s allies from sustaining military aid.

“The modern world quickly gets accustomed to success,” Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday, complaining that Ukrainian troops’s achievements “are perceived as a given.”

Zelensky’s comments came as the Biden administration seeks congressional approval for a $105 billion aid package that includes assistance for both Israel and Ukraine. But some Republicans oppose sending more aid to Ukraine — and have moved to separate the funding request from aid for Israel.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned senators Tuesday that if they cut off funding to Ukraine, as some Republicans have vowed to do, President Vladimir Putin of Russia would win the war.

“I can guarantee you that without our support, Putin will be successful,” Austin said at a Senate hearing. “If we pull the rug out from under them now, Putin will only get stronger and he will be successful in doing what he wants to do in acquiring his neighbor’s sovereign territory.”

Funding for Ukraine has become a toxic issue among Republicans. Some argue that too much money has already been spent on backing Kyiv’s war effort with little progress to show for it, and support prioritizing military aid to Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The American taxpayers have become weary of funding a never-ending stalemate in Ukraine with no vision for victory,” eight US House Republicans wrote in a letter addressed to President Biden on Tuesday.

While the naysayers represent a minority overall in Congress, the shift in Republican sentiment has left Ukraine’s boosters in the party angry, alarmed, and working to figure out how to reverse the trend before a lapse in funding hampers Ukraine on the battlefield.

The aid package put forward by the Biden administration includes over $60 billion for Ukraine, which would help Kyiv sustain what has largely become a war of attrition against Moscow.

Both sides have been burning through enormous quantities of ammunition. On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said Russia had shelled nearly 120 settlements over the last 24 hours — more than in any single day so far this year.

“This is a record number of towns and villages that have come under attack,” Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said in a statement. The east and south of Ukraine were the hardest hit, according to Klymenko, who said at least three civilians were killed and that residential buildings and an oil refinery came under fire.

Ukraine officials have warned that Moscow was likely to renew its assaults on energy infrastructure as winter looms, but say they are prepared for such a campaign.