Balkan leaders will rally to support Ukraine at a summit on Wednesday as it struggles to fight off invading Russian forces, with Kyiv pushing for more military aid.
Croatia will host 12 regional states plus Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on his latest trip to rally backing from allies as the looming US election throws Ukraine’s fortunes into doubt.
The summit will show that the “whole region supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom”, Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
He pledged his country’s continuous “solidarity with Ukraine… including military support”.
Joining Zelensky and Plenkovic will be heads of state, premiers and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.
“We expect the region to unite in signalling support to Ukraine,” Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Monday.
– Military aid drive –
The gathering in the southern Adriatic resort of Dubrovnik is the third “Ukraine-Southeast Europe” summit.
At the last one in Albania in February, Zelensky called for greater backing to help fend off Russian forces.
He has been pressing his allies for more aid, with Russia enjoying a frontline advantage in manpower and ammunition.
Zelensky has also demanded clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies including the United States to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
Wednesday’s summit comes ahead of another international meeting to discuss military support for Ukraine in Germany on Saturday.
Zelensky is scheduled to attend that gathering with more than 50 of Ukraine’s allies.
It comes at a crucial juncture ahead of the US election next month, which could compromise the billions of dollars of support that Kyiv receives from its biggest backer.
Republican US candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly defended Russian President Vladimir Putin and voiced scepticism over US funding for Kyiv.
– Croatian row over Ukraine –
Plenkovic said that in the past two years EU member Croatia’s aid to Ukraine, mostly military, totalled 300 million euros ($329 million).
He visited Kyiv last month in his third visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
But the Balkans summit will mark Zelensky’s first visit to Croatia.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to sign an agreement with Plenkovic on long-term support and cooperation between the two countries.
It will focus notably on Croatia’s experiences in prosecuting war crimes and removing mines from its 1990s independence war.
But the meeting comes amid a domestic row between Croatia’s conservative government and President Zoran Milanovic over Ukraine.
Milanovic refused earlier this month to back the government’s proposal to send Croatian officers to a NATO mission in Germany to train Ukrainian soldiers.
The president, who has limited powers but is the supreme commander of the country’s armed forces, said he would not allow Croatian soldiers to “participate in activities that push Croatia into war”.
The prime minister accused Milanovic of acting against national interests.
He called on lawmakers to reverse the president’s decision, which would require a two-thirds majority vote in parliament.
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