Kanyshai Butun
31 July 2026•Update: 31 July 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Russia wants the conflict in the Middle East to continue as it limits US support for Ukraine.
In an interview with Fox News aired Thursday, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of supplying Iran with drones that have been used in attacks across the Middle East and against Israel.
“We know from intelligence they are very happy that there is no ending the war, real ending the war in the Middle East,” he said. “Because they understand that since United States in this war, they can’t help Ukraine on the same level like it was before.”
Asked whether Ukraine was winning the war, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “not losing.”
“Between us, winning is not to lose our country and our independence,” he said. “We are not losing, and they are not winning.”
Zelenskyy also claimed that more than 1.5 million Russian troops had been killed since the start of the war but declined to provide detailed Ukrainian casualty figures.
“We have about 50,000 killed soldiers, and we had about 400,000 wounded, and there is huge number of disappeared,” he said.
The US and Iran signed a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding last month aimed at ending their conflict and reaching a lasting peace agreement.
Tensions escalated again after US President Donald Trump announced July 8 that the ceasefire outlined in the Islamabad memorandum was no longer in effect.
Since then, the US and Iran have exchanged strikes, with Washington targeting sites inside Iran while Tehran says it has attacked US military facilities and equipment across several countries in the region.
