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European leaders were scheduled to gather in Paris on Monday to demonstrate unity and resolve in supporting Ukraine as it faces a dire situation on the battlefield with Russia and in Washington. .
The meeting, convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to be attended by around 20 heads of state and government officials, including from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to attend the evening meeting via video conference.
“We are at a critical moment,” Macron said on Saturday during a visit to a major agricultural trade show in Paris, adding that the talks would “strengthen our position” and give Ukraine more “visibility” in the coming months. He added that it would give “sexuality”.
“Russia cannot win in Ukraine,” he added.
A senior French presidential official said on condition of anonymity in line with French government practice that the talks were not expected to end with a concrete announcement of new military aid.
Instead, the officials strengthened support for Ukraine, better coordinated aid, and sent a message to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin that Europe is determined to see him fail. He said his purpose was to send it.
There is growing concern in Europe that so far there has been little success in thwarting Mr. Putin. About a week ago, Russia scored its biggest battlefield victory in months, capturing the eastern city of Avdiivka, a former Ukrainian stronghold.
Since then, it has been on the offensive along a front of more than 600 miles, capturing small villages in the east and threatening to retake hard-won land in the south that Ukraine won in a summer counteroffensive.
Zelenskiy on Sunday acknowledged for the first time a concrete figure for Ukraine’s casualties in the war, saying 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago. But his tally is much lower than the U.S. estimate, which puts the death toll at about 70,000.
Military experts and Ukrainian officials say Ukrainian military operations are being hampered by a lack of ammunition and weapons, largely as a result of reduced Western military aid, and that the situation will worsen if Ukraine does not receive more support soon. He says it will get worse.
“The next few months will be difficult for us,” Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv on Sunday, adding that political tensions in Congress, where a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine has stalled, are straining the country’s finances. He pointed out that it was a loss. war effort.
President Biden will meet with Congressional leaders on Tuesday to try to block emergency aid to Ukraine, the White House said.
“They know we need help within a month,” Zelenskyy said, referring to American lawmakers. He praised Europe’s efforts to fill the void left by the United States, saying the continent had “demonstrated its ability to be a leader.”
Aid pledges by European Union countries and institutions total nearly $150 billion, more than double the amount pledged by the United States, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
As the war drags on and additional U.S. aid remains uncertain, European leaders are increasingly supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
The prime ministers of Belgium, Denmark and Italy and the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, recently visited Ukraine to commemorate the second anniversary of the war and expressed their continued support.
Denmark and Italy have signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine, bringing to five the number of European countries that have signed such agreements with Kiev aimed at deterring further Russian aggression.
Still, it is unclear to what extent Europe can replace the United States as a guarantor of Ukraine’s combat capabilities. The Kiel Institute said European Union member states and institutions had so far allocated only half of the $150 billion pledged.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Sunday that every time aid does not arrive on time, “we lose people and we lose territory.”
Zelenskiy said Sunday that four brigades are not participating in Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive because the military has not received the necessary equipment.
“Can you imagine the number of athletes who could have fought and those who didn’t?” he asked. “Has anyone ever had to sit and wait for their equipment to arrive?”
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