Approval of $61bn aid from US shows Ukraine will not be abandoned, says Zelenskiy

Ukraine’s president has said the vote by the US House of Representatives to pass a long-delayed $61bn (£49bn) military aid package demonstrated that his country would not be abandoned by the west in its effort to fight the Russian invasion.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with US television that Saturday’s vote showed Ukraine would not be “a second Afghanistan”, whose pro-western government collapsed during an US-led pullout in the summer of 2021.

The Ukrainian president urged the US Senate to ratify the aid package rapidly and warned that his country was preparing its defences, fearing there could be a large Russian offensive before the fresh supplies reach the frontline.

“We really need to get this to the final point. We need to get it approved by the Senate … so that we get some tangible assistance for the soldiers on the frontline as soon as possible, not in another six months,” he said.

The Senate is expected to come out of recess on Tuesday to hold its first vote on the package – similar to one it had already voted for in February – with the Joe Biden promising to sign it into law swiftly after it passes Congress.

That would end months of wrangling in which House Republicans aligned with Donald Trump had refused to allow Ukraine aid, which was part of a larger package with money for Israel and Taiwan, to be debated in the lower chamber.

The US has only been able to commit to $300m of military aid to Ukraine this year, after the budget previously authorised by Congress was spent. This has coincided with a deterioration of the frontline position and the loss of Avdiivka in the eastern Donbas, with a shortage of artillery and other munitions blamed.

However, the opposition of Republicans faded after Iran’s drone and