Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appeal to Western nations to supply delayed aid to Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian onslaughts despite a shortage of ammunition.
“If this does not happen, it will become one of the most disgraceful pages in history – if America or Europe are defeated by Iranian ‘Shahed’ drones or Russian fighter jets. Russian evil should not be encouraged by weak decisions, delays in deliveries or hesitation,” he said, referring to the stalled U.S. aid package for Ukraine due to political wrangling in the U.S. Congress.
“It is simply impossible to explain how the hardships of a bleeding country can be used in domestic political struggles,” Zelenskyy added during his Sunday night video address.
Zelenskyy’s strident tone in his address revealed his frustration as the death toll in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa rose to 12 people, including five children, Sunday, after a Russian drone struck an apartment block there Saturday.
“Russia has made Ukrainian children its military targets,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, earlier Sunday, after the bodies of three children were pulled from the rubble.
Odesa regional Governor Oleh Kiper, writing on Telegram, said rescue teams working late Sunday had found additional bodies. Earlier in the day recovery teams pulled the bodies of a mother and baby out of the rubble.
It has now been more than two months since the U.S. last sent military supplies to Ukraine, according to The Associated Press. In Washington, officials are viewing the shortage of weapons and ammunition in Ukraine and the drop off in U.S. supply shipments with increasing alarm.
So far, House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to bring to a vote the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate that includes a crucial $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. That decision could stall the package for weeks after an already monthslong wait in Congress.
“We are waiting for supplies that are vitally necessary, we are waiting, in particular, for an American solution,” Zelenskyy said later Sunday in his evening address.
Russia had lost 15 military aircraft since the beginning of February, he added. “The more opportunities we have to shoot down Russian aircraft … the more Ukrainian lives will be saved,” Zelenskyy added in his Sunday evening address.
U.S. Defense Department officials are discussing options that could include tapping existing Pentagon stockpiles before Congress approves funding to replenish them, according to Sen. Jack Reed, the chairperson of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ukraine Peace talks
China’s foreign ministry said that Special Representative Li Hui and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin met Saturday evening in Moscow and agreed that negotiations are the only way to end the fighting in Ukraine.
In a readout published Sunday, China’s foreign ministry said that Beijing is ready to “continue its efforts to promote peace talks, mediate and build consensus among Russia, Ukraine and other relevant parties, and promote a final political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”
The Russian foreign ministry called the meeting on the war in Ukraine “a very engaged and thorough exchange of views” in a statement on its website adding “it was stated that any discussion of a political and diplomatic settlement is impossible without the participation of Russia and taking into account its interests in the security sphere.”
This was the first stop by China’s special envoy on Ukraine of a European trip that will also include Brussels, Poland, Germany and France, Chinese and Russian state media reported.
Li’s trip, the second since last May, comes as Kyiv seeks Beijing’s participation in peace talks in Switzerland aimed for this spring. China claims neutrality in Russia’s war on Ukraine but maintains close ties with Moscow, with frequent state visits and joint military drills.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed hopes Sunday that discussions on a cease-fire between Moscow and Kyiv will commence soon. At the end of a diplomatic forum in the southern city of Antalya, Fidan said “both sides have now reached the limits of the results they can achieve through war.”
Fidan told reporters he had discussed the issue of Ukraine among several other issues with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Friday.
“We think that it is time to start a dialog for a cease-fire,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean recognizing the occupation (by Russia), but issues of sovereignty and [a] cease-fire should be discussed separately,” he added.
NATO member Turkey, which shares a maritime border with both Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has sought to maintain good ties with both nations since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.