War in Ukraine: without American help, kyiv “will lose the war”, warns Zelensky

While the American program of military and economic assistance to kyiv, amounting to 60 billion dollars (55.3 billion euros) is blocked in Congress due to divisions between Democrats and Republicans, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that his country would lose the war if American aid did not arrive soon.

“If Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” declared Volodymyr Zelensky in a serious tone during a videoconference exchange with ambassadors of the Ukrainian government's fundraising platform, United24 . “Without the support of Congress, it will be difficult for us to win, or even survive” as a country, he insisted, according to a video of his speech posted on his social networks.

“If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked,” the Ukrainian president further warned, estimating that Russia, which invaded the neighboring state in February 2022, would then raise the nuclear threat to frighten the Western societies. While awaiting a decision from the American Congress, Ukrainian soldiers are forced to save their ammunition and face a confident Russian army, which has repelled a major counter-offensive by the Kiev army in the summer of 2023.

Russia said on Sunday that Ukrainian drones had attacked the territory of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia which it has occupied for two years, one of the devices having exploded, according to Moscow, above one of the reactors.

“The Ukrainian armed forces attacked the dome of reactor No. 6 of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” the management of the plant installed by Russia since it took control of it said on social networks. She added that the radiation level was normal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) subsequently reported on reactors”, without attributing them by name to Ukraine. IAEA Director Rafael Grossi said there had been “at least three direct impacts on the main containment structures” of the plant.

“This cannot happen. I firmly call on military decision-makers to refrain from any action that violates the basic principles that protect nuclear installations,” added Rafael Grossi.

The Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom, for its part, denounced an “escalation” and “a serious incident that could potentially undermine the integrity of the reactor containment.” She said one of the drones injured three people, hitting the plant's canteen.

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been the subject of numerous reciprocal accusations between the Russian and Ukrainian armies for two years.

The Russian army, more numerous and better supplied with ammunition, is gradually pushing forward on the Eastern front, and has regularly struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure in recent weeks, plunging thousands of civilians into darkness.

The Ukrainian army thus recognized on Sunday that the situation around Chassiv Iar, a small town located southeast of the important Ukrainian railway and logistics hub of Kramatorsk, was “difficult and tense”.

The Russian army “uses infantry with the support of armored combat vehicles”, supported by “assault aircraft”, declared on Ukrainian television Oleg Kalashnikov, the spokesperson for a brigade engaged in the fighting on site who fears a threat on “logistics routes”.

On Sunday, Russia announced that it had destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over its border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk, regularly hit by attacks from kyiv. The Russian Defense Ministry said 12 of them were destroyed over the Belgorod region.

The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov will make an official visit Monday and Tuesday to China, Moscow's key diplomatic and economic partner, his services announced in a press release on Sunday.

“On April 8-9, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, will pay an official visit to the People's Republic of China, during which discussions with Wang Yi (his Chinese counterpart, editor's note) are planned,” the Russian ministry said.

According to the press release, the two leaders will have “an in-depth exchange of views (...) on a number of burning topics” such as “the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region”.

Since the outbreak of the Russian assault on Ukraine in February 2022, relations between Moscow and Beijing have greatly strengthened.