"Thank you, America!'

Zelensky praises US aid that will help get shells firing again

- Mark Reynolds

VOLODYMYR Zelensky has thanked the US after lawmakers finally voted to give embattled Ukraine £49billion more military aid in its war with Russia.

The Ukraine president said he was grateful for the move which will bolster his troops' ability to fight off Vladimir Putin's forces.

After months of delays, America's House of Representatives approved the new aid on Saturday.

The much-stalled measure still had vocal opponents in Congress and it took a fragile bipartisan deal to get the controversial massive package through.

Jubilant

A jubilant Mr Zelensky described the support as "vital".

He claimed the aid would stop the war from expanding and so save thousands of lives.

Issuing a new rallying cry, Mr Zelensky said: "Today we received the awaited decision on the US aid package that we long fought for. And a very significant one.