Zelenskyy vows to fight Russia, Ukrainian officials confident US aid to Kyiv will not stop

(Patria) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech released on Sunday that nothing will weaken his country's fight against Russia, a day after the US Congress passed a bill to stop funding that omits aid to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Defence Minister Rustem Umerov separately said he received assurances of further military aid in a phone call with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

"Secretary Austin assured me," he wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, using flags instead of country names, that US support for Ukraine "will continue" and that Ukrainian "warriors will continue to have strong support on the battlefield."

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Kyiv is working with its American partners to ensure the new budget decision includes funds for the country, and that US support remains intact.

Zelenskyy, in a recorded speech marking the Defender's Day holiday, did not directly address the congressional vote but reiterated his determination to fight until victory.

No one can "extinguish" the stability, endurance, strength and courage of Ukraine, he said, repeating a Ukrainian verb often used for power outages caused by Russian attacks. He added that Ukraine will only stop resisting and fighting on the day of victory.

"As we get closer to it every day, we say: 'We will fight as long as necessary.'"

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Republicans have committed to providing aid to Ukraine through a separate vote and that US support cannot be interrupted "under any circumstances."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko also tried to reassure Ukrainians about future US support in comments on Facebook, stressing that previously approved funds will not be withheld.

"Support for Ukraine remains unwaveringly strong in the US administration, in both parties and in the halls of the US Congress, and most importantly, among the American people," he wrote.