"I need ammunition, not a trip": Zelensky recalls that four years ago Biden offered him a way to flee

Barcelona / BrusselsUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has commemorated the fourth anniversary of the start of the war President Zelenskyy addressed the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine with a video recorded from the bunker where he and his entourage took refuge in the early days of the invasion. "Today marks exactly four years since Putin began his three-day offensive to take Kyiv. And that speaks volumes about our resilience, about how Ukraine has fought all this time," he emphasized.

The 18-minute video shows for the first time the bunker on Bankova Street, where the president recalled holding his first conversations with world leaders. He especially remembered the call he received from then-US President Joe Biden, who offered him help to leave the country. "It was here that I heard: Volodymyr, there is a threat, you have to leave Ukraine urgently; we are ready to help you do so. And from here I replied: I need ammunition, not a trip," Zelenskyy recounted.

Since then, the Ukrainian president has maintained pressure on Washington and its European allies to continue receiving military and economic aid to defend against Russia. But Donald Trump's return to the White House has made things more difficult for Zelensky, with a reduction in military aid and increasing pressure to reach an agreement that, as it has been presented so far, It responds more to Moscow's interests than those in Kyiv.

In a videoconference address to the European Parliament, the Ukrainian president admitted that maintaining unity between Europe and the United States "in the current circumstances" is "not an easy task," but insisted that the Russian advance can only be resisted with "unity."

With this objective, Zelensky reiterated his invitation to Trump to visit Kyiv: "Only by coming to Ukraine and seeing our life and our struggle with your own eyes, feeling the pain of our people and the enormity of this suffering, only then can you truly understand what this war is about." He believed that a trip to the war-torn country would make it clear to Trump "who the aggressor is and who needs to be pressured."

The EU is committed to delivering the mega-loan despite Hungary's veto

Those who did take advantage of the occasion to travel to Ukraine to coincide with the anniversary were the leaders of the European Union and also the leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries. But the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, António Costa, landed empty-handed in Kyiv. The intention was to send a strong message of support to the Zelensky government in the fourth year of the war, but Orbán has avoided it and has vetoed at the last minute the twentieth package of sanctions against the Putin regime, and the ratification of the 90 billion euro loan that is to finance weapons and humanitarian aid for Ukraine over the next two years.

However, Von der Leyen and Costa pledged in a statement to move forward with the mega-loan, as agreed by European leaders last December. "The first payment will be made as soon as possible," the statement issued this morning acknowledges, although the initial plan was for the first installment to reach Kyiv this coming April. Beyond the financing, which is crucial for Ukraine, the EU leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to the country's security and reconstruction. "The future of a secure and prosperous Ukraine is linked to the European Union," Von der Leyen and Costa assert, noting that Kyiv is "taking significant steps" toward EU accession. "Ukraine can count on our full support in its accession to the EU and its post-war reconstruction," the statement adds. However, to guarantee this support, Von der Leyen has made a request that Zelensky has not received with much humor. The President of the European Commission has urged the Ukrainian President to expedite the repair of the Druzhba oil pipeline, a demand from Hungary and Slovakia in exchange for lifting their veto of the twentieth round of EU sanctions against the Putin regime and the disbursement of the EU's massive loan in Kyiv. In turn, the Ukrainian leader recalled that this infrastructure, which connects Hungarian and Slovak territory with Russia, "was destroyed by Russia," and criticized the fact that Ukraine now has to pay for its repair. "It cannot be that Russia destroys, Ukraine or Europe repairs, and then Russia attacks again," Zelensky lamented.

At the same joint press conference, the Ukrainian leader insisted that his country needs a "fast track" to EU accession, which he hopes will occur in 2027. In an interview this Monday on the Financial Times He had criticized the slowness of the process, in his view. "I want a date. I'm asking for it," he said. "We will not allow future leaders or the next generation to face a situation where Russia blocks Ukraine's EU membership for 50 years."

The Kremlin says the war will continue

Amid a process—so far slow and without progress—of three-way negotiations, Zelensky has promised that Ukraine will not betray the sacrifices made by its people during four years of war just to make peace with Russia, which maintains maximalist objectives, including international recognition of Russian sovereignty over the entire DonbasIt also addresses areas it failed to occupy during the war. Furthermore, it does not clarify the status of the parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—provinces illegally annexed by Russia in September 2022—that remain under Ukrainian control.

The Kremlin asserted that the war will continue because it admitted that Russia has not yet achieved "all its objectives." "It is true that the objectives have not been fully achieved. That is why the special military operation continues," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday. He reiterated the usual criticisms of Europe and the United States: "After the direct intervention in this conflict by Western European countries and the United States, the special military operation has become de facto in a much larger confrontation between Russia and Western countries, which had and still have the objective of destroying our country."