More US aid can’t help Ukraine, Kremlin says

The United States cannot turn the tide of war in Ukraine by pumping tens of billions more dollars into the country, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, ahead of planned talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. leaders.

Zelenskiy will make his case for more U.S. aid for Ukraine’s war against Russia during talks in Washington later on Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders at a time of increasing doubts among many Republican lawmakers.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would “very closely” follow Zelenskiy’s meetings in Washington.

“It is important for everyone to understand that the tens of billions of dollars pumped into Ukraine did not help it gain any success on the battlefield,” Peskov told a regular news briefing.

“The other tens of billions of dollars that Ukraine wants to be pumped into its economy will also be doomed to the same fiasco… This cannot change the situation on the battlefield, but it also can’t change the advance of the ‘special military operation”,” he said.

Moscow describes its military actions in Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24,2022, as a “special military operation” to demilitarise a country it says poses a direct threat to Russian security interests. Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is engaged in an unprovoked war of aggression and a land grab.

Peskov said Ukraine’s failures on the battlefield were undermining Zelenskiy’s position.

The next round of U.S. aid for Ukraine has been held up by a demand from House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans that no more funds be dispatched unless steps are first taken to tighten controls on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Russia currently controls nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Military frontlines have not budged very much in recent months despite a Ukrainian counter-offensive.