‘We are not your piggy bank’ – US lawmaker to Zelensky

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky is treating the US as a “piggy bank” and is feeding Washington with “propaganda” to get more US-made air defense systems, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has said.

On Wednesday, Zelensky received Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Democratic Congressman Jim Himes in Kiev, saying that Ukraine is grateful to the US and President Donald Trump for what he called “strong bipartisan support.”

During the talks, Zelensky said Kiev had a “significant need” for air defense missiles, adding that he had sent a letter to the White House and Congress with a wish list. Earlier, Axios reported that Zelensky had asked for an “urgent supply of Patriot interceptors,” with the Ukrainian leader himself saying last month that the missiles are “in such a deficit, it could not be any worse.”

In response, Luna accused Zelensky of lying. “This is literally propaganda and not even true. There is no broad support for an endless war and we are not your piggy bank,” she wrote on X.

Luna also recalled that Trump has been pushing for a negotiated settlement to the conflict, but Zelensky is “the ONLY person holding out on the deal.” “The war CANNOT continue,” Luna added.

Under the Trump administration, Ukraine has been procuring US-made weapons mainly through the PURL initiative, a NATO-backed mechanism under which Kiev’s backers fund shipments for Ukraine. Zelensky has praised the scheme, but said it does not fully cover shortages.

Luna has been an outspoken critic of Zelensky, slamming the Ukrainian leader over the crackdown on the Orthodox Church and advocating a halt in US aid to Kiev. She has also criticized Zelensky over his refusal to hold a presidential election. The Ukrainian leader’s term expired in 2024, with Russia declaring him “illegitimate” and suggesting that his dubious status is an obstacle to signing a binding peace deal.

In March, Zelensky claimed that the US was pressing Ukraine to withdraw from Russia’s Donbass as a precondition for any post-conflict American security guarantees. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, dismissed the claim as “lies.”