War in Ukraine | “We will lose” if the United States stops its aid, says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine would lose against Russia if the United States stopped helping the country, while Kyiv and its European allies fear American disengagement under the future presidency of Donald Trump.

“If they cut [l’aide]I think we will lose. Of course we will stay, we will fight […]but I think it’s not enough to survive,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with Fox News, the conservatives’ favorite American channel.

In this context, Poland and other European states affirmed to be “ready to accept the burden of military and financial support” to Kyiv, declared the head of Polish diplomacy Radoslaw Sikorski, after a meeting in Warsaw with several of his European counterparts.

However, they will have to find lasting common ground, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was criticized for having had a telephone conversation a few days ago with Vladimir Putin for the first time in two years.

After Ukraine shooting, Russia promises “appropriate” response

Russia promised on Tuesday an “appropriate” response to the attack on its territory carried out by Ukraine with American ATACMS missiles, believing that the conflict was moving into “a new phase” and announcing that the possibilities of using the weapon nuclear power were thus expanded.

This rhetoric on the use of atomic weapons was denounced by Washington, the European Union and the United Kingdom, who castigated an “irresponsible” attitude from Moscow.

Au 1000^e day of the invasion of Ukraine, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, for his part accused the Americans of having helped the Ukrainian army in these strikes on the Russian border region of Bryansk.

The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, for his part, called for “keeping a cool head” in the face of this revision of Russian nuclear doctrine and “not giving in to fear”.

“Their revised nuclear doctrine and their rhetoric on the use of nuclear weapons are nothing more than blackmail,” Andriï Sybiga told a US Congressional committee.

The Pentagon said it continued to “monitor,” adding: “there is no indication that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.”

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced an “escalatory” posture by Russia which he called “to reason”. “She has responsibilities as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,” Macron told journalists after a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

He also indicated that he had called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to “use all his weight, his pressure, his negotiating capacity with regard to President Putin so that he stops the attacks”.

On the thousandth day of the invasion of Ukraine, around fifty countries reaffirmed their support for Kyiv at the UN on Tuesday, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, for his part accused the Americans of having helped the Ukrainian army in these strikes on the Russian border region of Bryansk.

They follow a green light given by Washington in Kyiv on Sunday to fire these long-range missiles on Russian soil.

In September, Vladimir Putin warned that if Ukraine fired such Western missiles on Russian territory, it would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia.”

The Russian president has not yet spoken publicly about Tuesday morning’s Ukrainian attack, which Moscow says targeted military installations.

« Escalade »

According to the Russian army’s account, “at 3:25 a.m., the enemy struck a site in the Bryansk region”, not far from the Ukrainian border, with “ATACMS tactical missiles”. Five projectiles were destroyed and another damaged by Russian anti-aircraft defense.

These shots were confirmed to AFP by a Ukrainian official speaking on condition of anonymity, even if the head of state Volodymyr Zelensky limited himself to saying that his country had these missiles and would “ use them.”

Mr. Lavrov, for his part, judged, on the sidelines of the G20 in Rio, that this sent “a signal” that Ukraine and the West “want escalation”. This is “a new phase in the Western war against Russia and we will react accordingly,” he insisted.

For him, these precise missiles supplied by the United States cannot be used by Kyiv “without the help of American experts and instructors”.

In response, Mr. Lavrov invited Westerners to “read the entirety” of the new Russian nuclear doctrine, made official on Tuesday by Vladimir Putin, which expands the possibility of using atomic weapons in the event of a “massive” attack. by a non-nuclear country, but supported by a nuclear power. A clear reference to Ukraine and the United States.

“This is a new demonstration of the irresponsible rhetoric that Russia has demonstrated for two years,” reacted a spokesperson for the White House in Washington to AFP.

An “irresponsible rhetoric”, also commented the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, like the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly raised the specter of the use of nuclear weapons since the start of the offensive in February 2022 against Ukraine.

“Never” submitted

Ukraine has been demanding for months to be able to strike military targets deep in Russia to disrupt the logistics of its army, now supported by thousands of North Korean soldiers, according to Kyiv and the West.

Facing the Ukrainian Parliament, Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that the outcome would come in 2025. “This stage will determine who wins,” he noted, convinced that “Ukraine can defeat Russia,” even if “it is very difficult.”

But Mr. Zelensky acknowledged, for the first time, that Ukraine may have to wait until after Putin to “reestablish” its territorial integrity, with Russian forces occupying nearly 20% of its area.

This is the first time that he has admitted that his country will “perhaps” have to accept, for a time, the loss of areas occupied by Russia.

Earlier, Ukrainian diplomacy had sworn that Ukraine would “never” submit to Moscow, while the Kremlin said it was sure, as usual, of victory.

On the ground, Russian troops are advancing on several sectors of the front, notably near Kourakhové (East), where they claimed the conquest of a new village on Tuesday.

With Victoria Lukovenko, Agence France-Presse