Ukraine's president seeks '3 wins' from West

MOSCOW

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukraine needs “three wins” from the West.

Following a meeting with his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics, Zelenskyy said at a news conference that his administration needs to persuade the US and EU to approve new tranches of financial aid, as well as ensure Ukraine's membership in the EU.

"We need three wins. The first victory is with (the US) Congress… Second, we need the support of the European Union so that the 50 billion (aid) package does not go anywhere. Not everyone in the European Union is ready to support this package today… The third one is (that) we need to avoid the threat of a veto by one or more EU countries on the decision to start negotiations with Ukraine on joining the community," he said.

In October, the US presidential administration requested Congress to allocate an additional $106 billion for further assistance to Ukraine and Israel, as well as countering China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. However, as of today, the request has not been approved.

On June 20, the European Commission called on the EU countries to make additional contributions to the community budget for the years 2024-2027, which are necessary to approve a program of budget assistance to Ukraine in the amount of €50 billion over the next four years, and military assistance in the amount of €20 billion.

This proposal was met with little enthusiasm in EU countries as their budgets have suffered as a result of anti-Russian sanctions. Because of this, long-term EU assistance programs for Ukraine have not yet been adopted.