Ukraine defense chief says his nation will find a way no matter who wins US election

ASPEN, Colorado (AP) — Ukraine will find a way to deal with whatever comes if former President Donald Trump wins a second term, throwing into doubt vital U.S. support for its defense against Russia’s invading forces, Ukraine’s defense minister said Wednesday.

In carefully framed comments to an audience of U.S. policymakers and journalists, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov reflected the diplomatic and military difficulty facing Ukraine as Trump and running mate JD Vance gain momentum in the U.S. presidential race.

Vance, an Ohio senator, has battled in Congress to block U.S. military and financial aid to Ukraine as it fights Russian forces and cross-border attacks, while Trump has said he will bring the war to an immediate end if he wins in November.

Trump, a Republican, has not said how he would do that. Analysts say that could include withdrawal of U.S. aid to Ukraine unless it agrees to a cease-fire on Russian terms, including surrendering Ukrainian territory to Russia.

“We believe in U.S. leadership, and we believe America wants its partners and allies to be strong as well,” Umerov said, speaking remotely to an audience of government officials and others at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

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“At this stage, we will focus on the battlefield,” Umerov said.

“Whatever the outcome” of the U.S. elections, “we will find solutions,” he said.

Umerov, much like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Washington last week, stopped short of saying whether Ukraine would attempt to keep fighting or would agree to a cease-fire deal that ceded territory to Russia if the U.S. were to withdraw its support.

While other members of the military alliance of European and North American countries also help provide arms, money and other aid to Ukraine, U.S. support has been the most invaluable since Russia launched its war in early 2022.

For now, Umerov insisted that Ukraine — which has broadened its mobilization efforts to bring in more troops than the 4 million Umerov said were now registered — would keep fighting to regain territory already lost to the Russians.

It was “within our goals” to take back the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, seized by Russians early in their offensive, he said.

The defense minister also pushed back against President Joe Biden on one point, although not by name. While Biden has been the most important single backer of Ukraine’s defense, he has resisted growing pressure to roll back tough restrictions placed on Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons against military targets in Russia. Biden suggested at the NATO summit that Ukraine might use the weapons to hit Moscow.

Umerov said Ukraine couldn’t stop Russian strikes on its cities and infrastructure unless it could hit the airbases and other military sites in Russia from which the strikes come.

“We want to say it loudly: We are focusing on military targets, so that they are not able to hit the civilians” in Ukraine, he said.