A former Ukraine president has warned the US “will lose face before the entire world” if it abandons Kyiv.
In a wide-ranging interview about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma implored Western nations to continue providing aid to Ukraine as the US Congress looks increasingly unlikely to pass additional funding earmarked by President Joe Biden.
Kuchma was president of Ukraine between 1994 and 2005, and during his tenure, he signed two historic agreements with Russia that solidified Ukraine’s post-Soviet Union borders: the 1995 Budapest Memorandum and a 1997 treaty of friendship, which was negotiated with Boris Yeltsin.
In an interview with the Guardian, Kuchma said he watched Republicans in the US Senate vote down a $61 billion (£47 billion) package of assistance for Ukraine last week.
Kuchma also offered his backing to Zelensky, who recently ruled out that any elections would take place in Ukraine next year if the war is ongoing at that time.
He said: “Our homes are being bombed. Soldiers are in trenches. Five million Ukrainians live in Europe.
“You can’t ask people to go out and vote in these circumstances. It’s absurd. If they did happen I’m sure Zelensky would win.”
Asked if Ukraine could still win its battle with Russia given that international solidarity continues to wane, Kuchma responded: “I believe in victory. I can’t exist in any other way.”
He also issued a bitter warning for other countries if Ukraine falls to Moscow, but he remained defiant in this belief that Ukraine will prevail.
“I want to say only one thing: we will not retreat. We will stand until the end,” he said.
“We will never give up – no way. If you help us, we will win. If you stop helping us, we can die.”
“But then you will be the next ones Russia wants to destroy.”
