Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday announced meetings this week with several European leaders as he pushes for more military aid to repel Russian forces.
A key meeting with international allies planned for Saturday was earlier postponed after US President Joe Biden called off a planned European visit to focus on the threat from Hurricane Milton to Florida.
The Ukrainian leader has stepped up efforts to rally international backing amid doubts about future US support after the November presidential election.
“I will meet separately in each country with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany,” Zelensky told a press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic after a summit in Dubrovnik.
Zelensky’s meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday were announced earlier.
The Ukrainian leader is set to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday and local media had reported that he would then also meet Meloni.
– United Europe –
At the start of the “Ukraine-Southeast Europe” summit on Wednesday, Zelensky said the European Union must “unite the whole continent, all of Europe’s democratic nations including your countries”.
“If Europe is not united today it won’t be peaceful, so that integration processes that have begun must reach their result,” he said, pleading the case for his country and several Balkan states to be allowed into the bloc.
Heads of state, premiers and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey joined Zelensky and Plenkovic at the talks.
Only Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Slovenia are EU members.
Zelensky repeatedly mentioned a peace plan prepared by Kyiv which he would like to present at a peace conference expected in November.
The “peace formula” will be ready by then and will “outline detailed conditions for a just end to the war”, he said.
“How do we force Russia to make peace? How do we compel those responsible for the war to follow the peace formula?”
Kyiv has developed an “action plan that can bridge the gap between the current situation and a successful peace summit,” he said.
“For us this is a victory plan” and once it is “fully implemented, Russia will lose their ability to threaten us, to threaten Europe”.
A joint summit declaration condemned Russian aggression, voiced support for Ukraine’s “independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” and confirmed ” unwavering commitment to providing continued multifaceted support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes”.
– Military aid drive –
Zelensky says his country needs more aid to counter Russia’s advantage in manpower and ammunition. Russia has made several battlefield advances in recent months.
He also wants clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including the United States, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
Zelensky was to attend an international meeting of more than 50 countries to discuss military support for Ukraine in Germany on Saturday.
But the US military said the meeting at the Ramstein air base was postponed and did not specify a new date. Biden has pulled out of a tour of Europe and Angola because of Hurricane Milton.
The US presidential election in November could compromise the billions of dollars of support that Ukraine receives from its biggest backer.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has defended Russian President Vladimir Putin and voiced scepticism over US funding for Kyiv.
– Croatian row over Ukraine –
The Balkans summit was Zelensky’s first visit to Croatia, which has given mostly military aid totalling 300 million euros ($329 million) to Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, according to Plenkovic.
Zelensky said talks with Plenkovic focused on defence cooperation, demining, rehabilitation of wounded children and soldiers as well as Ukraine’s recovery and European integration. The two leaders signed a cooperation agreement.
But the conservative government and President Zoran Milanovic have argued over Ukraine.
Milanovic refused this month to back a government proposal to send Croatian officers on a NATO mission in Germany to train Ukrainian soldiers.
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