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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held last-ditch talks in Washington to plead for continued US aid on Tuesday, as Russia claimed advances on the battlefront and dismissed the impact of Western help for Kyiv.
After Zelensky met the leaders of both parties in the US Senate, Democratic Majority leader Chuck Schumer warned that Ukraine needed the aid quickly to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from claiming victory.
Zelensky then went on to the House of Representatives to confer with the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson and planned to move to the White House for one-on-one talks with President Joe Biden.
"He made it clear and we all made it clear that if we lose, Putin wins," Schumer said after the talks with Zelensky, who wore a black sweater with a small Ukrainian trident symbol, and olive green military trousers.
The trip -- coming as Ukraine's main phone operator suffered what it said was a massive hacking attack -- represents a desperate bid by Zelensky to keep Ukraine's key international backer from drifting away.
But while Zelensky won applause from senators, Republicans are increasingly lukewarm about the need to support Ukraine.
They are blocking Biden's request for US$60 billion in new military aid unless he agrees to measures on US-Mexico border security and immigration reform -- one of the most intractable issues in US politics.
The White House has warned that money for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year without a deal with Congress.
In a speech on Monday to US military officials, Zelensky said that politics should not "betray" Ukraine's soldiers and he echoed Biden's frequent warning that the Ukrainian struggle against invasion has global implications.
The Kremlin scoffed at the impact of US support, echoing the arguments made by some senior Republicans who say that continuing the flood of weaponry to Ukraine would be futile after Kyiv's summer counteroffensive stalled.
"It is important for everyone to understand: the tens of billions of dollars pumped into Ukraine did not help it gain success on the battlefield," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
Putin said on Sunday that Ukraine was "running out" of arms because its defence industry was not able to produce enough.
Russia said it was pressing ahead on the ground, just as Ukraine's freezing winter deepens.
Source: AFP
烏克蘭總統在最後一刻請求美國提供資金
烏克蘭總統澤倫斯基週二在華盛頓舉行最後一次會談，懇求美國繼續提供援助，而俄羅斯聲稱在前線取得了進展，並否認了西方援助對基輔的影響。
澤倫斯基會見美國參議院兩黨領導人後，民主黨多數黨領袖查克·舒默警告稱，烏克蘭需要盡快提供援助，以防止俄羅斯總統普丁宣稱獲勝。
澤倫斯基隨後前往眾議院與共和黨議長麥克·約翰遜進行磋商，並計劃前往白宮與喬·拜登總統進行一對一會談。
舒默在與澤連斯基會談後表示：「他明確表示，我們也都明確表示，如果我們輸了，普丁就會獲勝。」澤連斯基身穿一件帶有烏克蘭小三叉戟標誌的黑色毛衣和橄欖綠軍褲。
這次訪問正值烏克蘭主要電話業者遭受所謂的大規模駭客攻擊之際，代表著澤連斯基不顧一切地試圖阻止烏克蘭的主要國際支持者流失。
儘管澤倫斯基贏得了參議員的掌聲，但共和黨人對支持烏克蘭的必要性卻越來越冷淡。
他們正在阻止拜登提出的 600 億美元新軍事援助請求，除非他同意美墨邊境安全和移民改革措施——這是美國政治中最棘手的問題之一。
白宮警告說，如果不與國會達成協議，烏克蘭的資金將在今年年底耗盡。
澤倫斯基週一在向美國軍方官員發表講話時表示，政治不應該「背叛」烏克蘭士兵，他呼應了拜登經常發出的警告，即烏克蘭反對入侵的鬥爭具有全球影響力。
克里姆林宮嘲笑美國支持的影響，呼應了一些共和黨資深人士的觀點，他們表示，在基輔夏季反攻陷入停滯後，繼續向烏克蘭輸送武器將是徒勞無功的。
克里姆林宮發言人德米特里·佩斯科夫週二表示： “每個人都必須明白，向烏克蘭注入的數百億美元並沒有幫助其在戰場上取得成功。”
普丁週日表示，烏克蘭的武器正在“耗盡”，因為其國防工業無法生產足夠的武器。
俄羅斯表示，正值烏克蘭嚴冬加深之際，它正在實地推進工作。
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