Ukraine's Ambassador to US: Ukraine in urgent need of missiles

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, warns that Kyiv faces a critical shortage of military equipment. However, she expresses optimism that American lawmakers will come through and vote in favour of assistance.

"We still have enough people who want to fight – there is no choice, actually for us, we are defending our homes – but we’re running out of equipment, especially missiles and interceptors," Markarova said, adding that Ukraine already needed this support "by yesterday," Markarova said in an interview with Bloomberg.

At the same time, she welcomed the Senate's adoption of procedural measures for the further consideration of the bill on providing additional assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

"I was so happy to hear that it was a very strong bipartisan support, not yet final of course, just the first step in the right direction. There is no alternative to continuing this support," Markarova said.

In response to the question about what Ukraine would do if former President Donald Trump returned to the presidential seat this year, the ambassador said that Kyiv should thank him for providing Javelin missiles during his administration.

"It’s a democracy – we will work with the president that the American people will elect. The fight for freedom, the fight for independence, fight for democracy and the values that we share – it has been, and we will work very hard to have it be, bipartisan. It’s an all-American issue," she added.

Markarova said it is necessary to do "everything possible in order for the US to stay strong and continue supporting us."

The bill, for which procedural measures were adopted in the Senate, allocates US$61 billion to support Ukraine's efforts against Russian aggression, US$14 billion for Israel in its conflict against Hamas, and an additional US$4.83 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan, to counter Chinese aggression.

US President Joe Biden, who supported the bipartisan compromise bill on border measures, has stated that its adoption seeks to undo Donald Trump's policies.