Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the need for more US funding at Davos this week.
- Zelenskyy addressed skeptical American voters in response to a question posed by Business Insider.
- "Peace in Ukraine means peace in Europe which means peace in the world," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a clear message for American voters ahead of the 2024 election: Don't give up on Ukraine.
Speaking in a group interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Zelenskyy addressed the global implications of the US vote as the fate of future funding for Ukraine hangs in the political balance.
In response to a question posed by Business Insider, Zelenskyy stressed the need for international peace and tied the reality of that peace to ongoing support for Ukraine.
"We need peace in the world," he told a room of media leaders. "Peace in Ukraine means peace in Europe which means peace in the world."
Much of the 45-minute discussion between Zelenskyy and media from around the world centered on Ukraine's fight to secure more aid from Western allies.
Zelenskyy's warnings come as the GOP appears to have completely turned its back on continued funding for Ukraine ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.
The Biden administration and Congress have approved more than $75 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2021, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, but Zelenskyy is adamant that Ukraine needs more.
He visited Congress in December in an effort to convince US lawmakers to approve an approximately $111 billion package — which includes aid for both Ukraine and Israel — that has been held up by Republicans since October.
GOP leaders, however, were left unmoved by Zelenskyy's visit.
Among the most vocal critics of ongoing US support for Ukraine is Republican frontrunner and former President Donald Trump, who earlier this month lambasted the "good old USA 'suckers'" for continuing to foot the "NATO bill" in Ukraine.
Trump has long been a skeptic of continued US funding to Ukraine and has championed "America First" isolationist policies instead.
During the Davos discussion, Zelenskyy acknowledged that some sects of the American political machine — what he described as radical Republican voices — have begun to cause concern with Ukraine, but pledged to work with any American president elected.
Trump and his Republican compatriots, however, cast doubt on the benefits of ongoing assistance to Ukraine, in part, because a large swath of the American voting public is increasingly opposed or indifferent to it — a political consideration which BI asked Zelenskyy to address.
The Ukrainian president in response offered a message to the skeptical American voter, arguing that sustained support for Ukraine will have long-lasting and global impacts that persist beyond Trump, Biden, and Zelenskyy himself.
"If Putin does not win — and I hope and assure that will be so — it means the future of your children will be peaceful," Zelenskyy said.