Zelenskiy fears Middle East conflict could hit military aid to Ukraine
The Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, has said he fears the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel could threaten military support for his country as he made a surprise visit to Brussels, where Nato defence ministers are meeting.
“I want to be honest with you, of course it is a dangerous situation for people in Ukraine,” he said on his first visit to Nato headquarters since Russia’s 2022 invasion, at a time when turbulence in the US Congress threatens to disrupt aid for Kyiv and the world’s attention is drawn to another crisis unfolding in the Middle East.
Zelenskiy called for more weapons and air defences to tide his country through another expected winter of Russian attacks on power stations and energy infrastructure.
But as the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, announced a fresh $200m (£162m) military contribution to Ukraine, he suggested Hamas’s attack on Israel at the weekend could be among the factors posing a risk to his country’s defence against Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy told reporters in the Belgian parliament: “If there are other tragedies in the world there is only a certain amount of military support to share and Russia hopes that support will be divided.
“There will be challenges with the American elections, and I talked to our partners and they said the support will stay but who can tell that the support will stay, nobody knows.”
Alongside the US military assistance package, the Belgian prime minister, Alexander de Croo, announced he would make F16s available to Ukraine in 2025 as well as immediately provide maintenance assistance for the fighter jets donated by other nations.
De Croo also launched a €1.7bn (£1.5bn) fund that will be raised from a levy on interest made from frozen Russian assets alongside a new scheme to block Russian diamonds from the retail market.
“We know what you are fighting for and we will continue to support and ensure that you will be on your side as long as necessary,” said De Croo.
Zelenskiy made explicit comparisons in his comments between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, and said western military aid was crucial to put Moscow on the backfoot in the war.
“Am I scared assistance will decrease? There are risks because of all those reasons you described, but that’s not just a risk for Ukraine.
“If you don’t help Ukraine, Russia will gain power and the war will not end, Russia will move forward in EU countries,” he said .
“The cheapest option for everyone is stop warfare in our country and to get them out of our territory,” he added.
He said Russia would move to exploit the conflict in Israel because its interest was “permanent destablisation” and “decreasing assistance to Ukraine” .
Earlier he urged the west to rally around the people of Israel as they did around Ukraine last year and show them they are not alone.
The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said the US’s decision to step up support for Israel would not come at the expense of Ukraine.
Berlin would do “everything we can to ensure support for Ukraine does not crumble”, Pistorius said in Berlin.
Reiterating the west’s pledge to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,Austin announced a new $200m defence package for Ukraine, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Putin was “preparing once again to use winter as a weapon of war” by attacking energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
“We need to prevent that, with more advanced and increased capabilities for air defence, we can make a big difference,” Stoltenberg said.