The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he fears that the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel and US politics could threaten military support for his country, as he made a surprise visit to Brussels where Nato defence ministers are meeting.
“I want to be honest with you, of course it is a dangerous situation for people in Ukraine,” he said on his first visit to Nato headquarters since Russia’s 2022 invasion, making an in-person plea for continued assistance at a time when turbulence in the US Congress threatens to disrupt aid for Kyiv and the world’s attention is drawn to the crisis unfolding in the Middle East.
Zelenskiy called for more weapons and air defences to tide his country through another winter of Russian attacks likely to target power stations and energy infrastructure.
But as the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, announced a fresh $200m (£162m) military contribution to Ukraine, Zelenskiy suggested Hamas’s attack on Israel at the weekend could be among the factors posing a risk to his country’s defence against Russia.
“If there are other tragedies in the world, there is only a certain amount of military support to share, and Russia hopes that support will be divided,” Zelenskiy told reporters at the Belgian parliament.
“There will be challenges with the American elections, and I talked to our partners and they said the support will stay, but who can tell that the support will stay, nobody knows.”
Austin said both allies will be supported. “We can do both and we will do both,” he said at the Nato meeting. “The United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Alongside the US military assistance package, the Belgian prime minister, Alexander de Croo, announced he would make F16s available to Ukraine in 2025 and immediately provide maintenance assistance for fighter jets donated by other nations.
De Croo also launched a €1.7bn (£1.5bn) fund that will be raised from a levy on interest made from frozen Russian assets alongside a new scheme to block Russian diamonds from the retail market.
“We know what you are fighting for and we will continue to support and ensure that you will be on your side as long as necessary,” De Croo said.
Zelenskiy’s presence underscored growing concerns about cracks in what has been staunch international backing for Kyiv in its war against Russia’s invasion, and worries that Ukrainian forces haven’t made measurable progress in the counteroffensive as winter closes in.
He made explicit comparisons between Vladimir Putin and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, and said western military aid was crucial to put Moscow on the back foot in the war.
“Am I scared assistance will decrease? There are risks because of all those reasons you described, but that’s not just a risk for Ukraine,” he said. “If you don’t help Ukraine, Russia will gain power and the war will not end, Russia will move forward in EU countries. The cheapest option for everyone is stop warfare in our country and to get them out of our territory.”
He said Russia would move to exploit the conflict in Israel because its interest was “permanent destablisation” and “decreasing assistance to Ukraine”.
Earlier he urged the west to rally around the people of Israel as they had around Ukraine last year and show them they were not alone.
The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said the US’s decision to step up support for Israel would not come at the expense of Ukraine. Berlin would do “everything we can to ensure support for Ukraine does not crumble”, Pistorius said in Berlin.
Reiterating the west’s pledge to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, Austin announced a new $200m defence package including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Putin was “preparing once again to use winter as a weapon of war” by attacking energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
“We need to prevent that. With more advanced and increased capabilities for air defence, we can make a big difference,” Stoltenberg said.
