Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the UK on Monday where he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as part of a whirlwind tour of several European countries to ask for increased military support as Ukraine is preparing to launch a major counter-offensive against Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky met Rishi Sunak at his holiday residence in Ellesborough, a first for a foreign leader since the Briton took office as head of government.
The UK is a leader when it comes to increasing our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter ahead of his meeting with the British Prime Minister.
Last week, the UK became the first European country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.
This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to this terrible war, Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
They need the continued support of the international community to defend themselves against the barrage of relentless and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for more than a year, he added.
Volodymyr Zelensky met over the weekend with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as well as Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin and Council President Georgia Meloni in Rome.
France notably announced that it would train and equip several battalions in the coming weeks with dozens of armored vehicles and light tanks, including AMX-10RCs.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has conquered large swathes of the east of the country and has been focusing its efforts for several months on taking the city of Bakhmout, in the industrial region of Donetsk.
kyiv must soon launch a major counter-offensive to reconquer the territories that have fallen into the hands of Russian forces. Ukrainian officials said they had recently gained ground in Bakhmout, but said this did not signal the start of the expected counter-offensive.
Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke Monday in a video broadcast at the summit on democracy in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he again pleaded for Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
It is time to remove the biggest security uncertainty in Europe, that is, to approve a positive political decision on [Ukraine’s] NATO membership, he said. declared in this video speech, calling for a decision to this effect to be taken during the summit of the Atlantic organization in July in Vilnius.
This article is originally published on ici.radio-canada.ca
