Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Friday that Ukrainian troops would have to withdraw in “small steps” if Ukraine does not receive a promise of U.S. military aid that is blocked by a divided Congress.

Ukraine relies on financial aid from Western partners, but foreign financing shrank in the first two months of the year and a robust U.S. aid package has been blocked by congressional Republicans for months.

Zelensky said: “Without U.S. support, it means we have no air defense systems, no Patriot missiles, no electronic warfare jammers, and no 155mm artillery.” Washington post.

“This means we will retreat, retreat, one step at a time, one small step at a time,” he added. “We’re trying to find some ways to not retreat.”

The Finance Ministry said Kyiv managed to attract about $9 billion in external financing in March. Donors include the European Union, Canada, Japan, the International Monetary Fund and the United Kingdom.

Ukraine has received $1.5 billion in funding under a World Bank program to help it pay for its budget and social spending to fend off a Russian incursion, Prime Minister Denis Shmihal said on Friday.

Schmihal said the new round of World Bank aid is being financed by Britain ($516 million) and Japan ($984 million). “These funds will be used to cover social and humanitarian needs and budget expenditures for reconstruction,” he wrote on X.

In early March, Ukraine received the first tranche of aid of US$4.9 billion (€4.5 billion) under the EU’s transitional financing programme.

“External financing reaches $10.2 billion in 2024 and $83.8 billion since the start of all-out war. International aid is intended to finance priority social spending of Ukraine’s state budget,” the ministry said.

More energy infrastructure takes a hit

Russia launched dozens of missiles and 60 drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Friday, damaging three power plants and causing widespread blackouts, according to Ukrainian authorities.

In a nightly video address, Zelenskiy accused Russia of targeting two hydropower plants, threatening to cause an environmental disaster not only in Ukraine but also in neighboring Moldova in the lower reaches of the Dniester River.

“The strikes at the Transnistrian and Kaniv power plants show that Russia intends to replicate the disaster they caused at the Kakhovka power plant. Ensuring that such environmental disasters do not happen again in Europe must become a common task and not just Only Ukraine’s mission.”

Friday’s attack was the latest in a series of intensified attacks on Ukraine launched by Moscow in March. During the week of March 18, Russia launched more than 190 missiles and 140 Shahed drones, authorities said. The Ukrainian Energy Ministry estimates that these attacks caused $11.5 billion in damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The Ukrainian air force shot down two Russian missiles over the southern port city of Odessa on Friday afternoon, Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov wrote on the Telegram messaging app, officials said, but the fragments hit Civilian infrastructure, injuring five people, including a 15-year-old boy.

“The enemy carried out insidious missile attacks on industrial and residential areas of Odessa,” the Southern Military Command said on Telegram.

Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians in its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although frequent Russian air strikes in the country have killed many people.

Information for this report was obtained in part from Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP.