Ukraine’s president suggests his country could mobilize 500,000 more people to fight the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed confidence that the United States and other Western countries will continue to support Ukraine in its fight to repel the Russian invasion.

During a year-end press conference on Tuesday, Zelensky said financial support was playing a crucial role in the country’s efforts to push back Russian forces pouring across the border in February 2022. He also suggested that Ukraine could mobilize 500,000 more people to keep fighting.

“We are working very hard on this, and I am sure that the United States of America will not betray us and that what we agreed on in the United States will be fully implemented,” Zelensky said.

The address comes at a time when support for Ukraine is under greater pressure in Western countries, particularly among conservatives in the United States express doubts about the continuation of aid and the delay in the adoption of a comprehensive aid package.

U.S. Senate leaders said Tuesday that the package is unlikely to be implemented before the end of the year.

Zelenskyy, who has warned beforehand that such delays benefit the Russian president Wladimir Putinsaid that a Trump victory in the 2024 US election could have “a very strong impact on the course of the war” if he pursues a policy toward Ukraine that is “colder or more economical.”

The Ukrainian leader also said he was sure the European Union (EU) would still push forward with its own 50 billion euro ($55 billion) aid package Resistance from Hungarywhose right-wing government has raised objections to further aid to Ukraine.

“I am confident that we have already achieved all this,” Zelensky said. “The question is now a question of time.”

However, support for Ukraine has become a controversial issue in Western countries long-awaited counteroffensive Over the summer they failed to regain significant territory and the war continues.

The Russian invasionAccording to the United Nations, which has also been accused of war crimes, has devastated Ukrainian cities, displaced millions of people and killed at least 10,000 civilians.

Zelensky said he was weighing the possibility of mobilizing another 500,000 troops, adding that he had asked the military for more details on this “very sensitive matter.”

Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was open to negotiations with Ukraine, the United States and Europe, but added that Russia “will not give up what is ours.”

“The West is not giving up its strategy of containing Russia and its aggressive goals in Ukraine,” Putin said. “Well, we won’t give up the objectives of the special military operation either.”