Mr. Zelensky asked the West 'must' send more aid, the US prepared to transfer billions of dollars to Ukraine

According to RT, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said the West “must” send more weapons to Kiev and send them faster to support the war effort against Russia.

Since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022, Ukraine has received more than $200 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid from the US and its allies. Currently, according to US media, Kiev is completely dependent on the West for military logistics.

“It is important that the United States is now stepping up the delivery of aid, which is essential to stabilize the situation,” Zelensky said in a video message on the evening of December 26.

“I thank our partners for this support, but the pace of delivery needs to be accelerated to break the pace of Russian attacks. We need greater strength in weapons and stronger positions for diplomacy,” he added.

The video above is in Ukrainian but has English subtitles, and is accompanied by two English status lines on Mr. Zelensky's X account.

Following Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election last month, the administration of President Joe Biden has sought to send as much money, weapons, equipment and ammunition to Ukraine as possible before the transfer of power on January 20.

On December 2, the White House announced a $725 million military aid package from the Pentagon’s reserve under the Presidential Withdrawal Authority Act (PDA). Five days later, Washington announced it had provided an additional $988 million worth of drones and missiles under the Ukraine Security Initiative (USAI).

A third aid package followed on December 12, including $500 million worth of drones, armored vehicles and ammunition for HIMARS missile launchers.

The US Congress approved a $61 billion funding request for Ukraine in April. However, the Republican majority in the House later rejected the White House's request for an additional $24 billion. The $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) approved earlier this week did not include any aid for Kiev.

According to Al Jazeera, the White House may have up to $3.5 billion left in the PDA and an additional $2.2 billion under USAI that they can “significantly increase” for Kiev before Biden’s term ends.

Russia continues to insist that no amount of aid from the West can change the ultimate outcome of the conflict or prevent Moscow from achieving the goals of its military campaign.

Meanwhile, according to TASS on December 28, the Associated Press news agency quoted officials as saying that the US President Joe Biden's administration is expected to announce next week that it will send $1.25 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

The new aid package for Kiev includes a large amount of ammunition, including ammunition for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the HAWK air defense system. In addition, the aid package will provide Stinger missiles and 155mm and 105mm artillery shells.

The officials, who said they expected an announcement by Dec. 30, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not been officially released to the AP.