Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron will travel together, today Thursday, to Brussels from Paris
“Campaign of persuasion” will be carried out by Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels to give fighter jets to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron will travel together, today Thursday, to Brussels from Paris to attend the EU summit, the French presidency announced.
The two leaders are expected at 10:00 (local time, 11:00 Greek time) in the Belgian capital.
Zelensky makes a surprise move tour of Europe from yesterday Wednesday. This is his second trip abroad since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, following a first visit to Washington in December.
Yesterday Wednesday the Ukrainian president went to Britain, his closest ally after the US in terms of providing military aid. He then arrived in France, where he dined with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelensky asked London and Paris to provide his country with fighter jets “as soon as possible” in order to repel the Russian attack.
A message he is expected to repeat today when addressing the leaders of the 27 EU member states in Brussels. Besides, the Ukrainian president will also address the European Parliament during his visit to the Belgian capital.
Although Zelensky is unlikely to make immediate commitments in this direction, this visit to Brussels gives him the opportunity to address European leaders face-to-face for the first time since the Russian invasion.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Macron and Soltz avoided answering the question of whether they would provide fighter jets to Ukraine, but pledged to continue supporting it, militarily, “for as long as it takes,” “until victory.”
“France and Germany have the potential to change the game and this is how I see our talks today”, Zelensky emphasized for his part. “The sooner we get long-range heavy weapons and our pilots get modern aircraft (…) the sooner this Russian aggression will end,” he added.
Western countries have so far avoided providing Ukraine with fighter jets or weapons that could strike deep inside Russia.
Joining the EU
As for Ukraine’s EU membership, Ukrainian officials are pushing to start accession negotiations in a few months. Solz appeared to respond to Kiev’s concerns from Paris yesterday when he said “I am going with a clear message to Brussels: Ukraine belongs to the European family”.
Ukrainian official stated that Kyiv is “absolutely sure that the decision to start accession negotiations can be taken this year”.
Although some EU countries want to give Ukraine a morale boost that would come from starting these talks, others are more cautious. They have stressed that would-be EU members must meet certain criteria, such as cracking down on corruption, before they can start negotiations.
In Brussels today it is possible to discuss the issue of imposing new sanctions against Russia. Solz indicated yesterday that the EU would tighten sanctions against Moscow again, close to the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
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