Ukraine will win war before US elections, Zelenskyy believes

Ukraine will win in the full-scale war against Russia before the presidential election in the United States next year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes.

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In an interview with BBC, Ukraine's president dismissed fears that US president Joe Biden, who has pledged to support Kyiv for as long as it takes, will not be reelected in 2024.

Both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress support Ukraine, Ukraine’s leader stressed.

"Who knows where we'll be [when the election happens]?. I believe we'll win by then," Mr Zelenskyy said.

Earlier, US ex-president Donald Trump, who is likely to stand in the 2024 election, said he would not commit to giving Ukraine more military support if he were reelected.

"We’re giving away so much equipment, we don’t have ammunition for ourselves right now," CNN quoted Mr Trump as saying. "We don’t have ammunition for ourselves we’re giving away so much."

The next US presidential election is scheduled for 5 November 2024. Messrs Biden and Trump have both announced they would stand. Mr Trump's main rival in the Republican Party is Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is yet to start his campaign.

Mr Trump has repeatedly opposed aid to Ukraine, praised dictator Vladimir Putin and spoke of a threat of nuclear war. He has made contradictory statements about the war in Ukraine, initially calling for more military aid to Kyiv, but later calling it a ‘territorial dispute’.

Following a flurry of criticism from fellow Republicans, Mr DeSantis called Mr Putin a war criminal and said that Ukraine would win.