Ukrainian ambassador praises support from West: 'We just need it faster'

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The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. championed support from Washington, D.C., and its Western allies as Ukraine endured its third day of fighting against invading Russian forces, but said Saturday that resources are needed faster. 

"Europe and [the] transatlantic community, I should say, is very much united on this," Oksana Markarova told reporters in Washington, D.C. 

"We just need it faster so that we can save more lives."

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Ukrainian soldiers take positions outside a military facility as two cars burn, in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed toward Ukraine's capital Saturday, and street fighting broke out as city officials urged residents to take shelter.  (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Markarova said Ukrainian officials are working closely with the Pentagon in terms of the needs of forces on the ground to counter Russian troops. She said, however, that she would not disclose exactly what those items are.

The U.S. has sent $1 billion worth of defensive aid to Ukraine over the last year — $350 million of which the White House announced on Saturday. 

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters this aid would come in the form of anti-armor, small arms, various munitions, body armor and "related equipment in support of Ukraine's frontline defenders."

People take cover as an air-raid siren sounds, near an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 26, 2022.  (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich )

A senior defense official said Saturday that more than 50 percent of the 150,000 Russian troops amassed along Ukraine’s borders in the weeks leading up to the incursion have invaded the country.

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But Russian forces have been unable to gain air superiority or take control of any city in Ukraine, despite its repeated attempts to move in on Kyiv over the last three days.

"So far we're in full control of the situation," Markarova told reporters. 

"It’s a full-fledged war. Ukrainians are fighting with everything for our homes — and the support that we need is yesterday." 

But the ambassador said it is imperative that the U.S. and its Western allies continue to hit Russia where they can and isolate not only the Kremlin financially but from government institutions. 

"We ask from the United States, and from all of our friends and allies, to actually ban Russia from everywhere," she said.

Ukrainian service members are seen at the site of a fighting with Russian raiding group in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the morning of February 26, 2022. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Markarova said Ukrainian officials would be sending records to the international criminal court to prove that Russia has engaged in "crimes against humanity."

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"There should be severe punishment for that and full isolation of Russia," she added. "It’s a full-fledged war. Ukrainians are fighting with everything for our homes and the support that we need is yesterday." 

Markarova was appointed Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. last year, on Feb. 25, 2021, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.