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Correct. Delete the statement in paragraph 6 that Slovalia will not send a representative.Prime Minister Robert Fico is also scheduled to attend.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday attended a European conference aimed at strengthening Western support for Ukraine, two years into the war with Russia and amid concerns that support for Kiev is waning. The leaders of various countries were invited.
The French presidential palace announced on Sunday that the meeting at the Elysée Palace would be an opportunity for participants to “reaffirm their solidarity as well as their determination to defeat Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.”
The conference will also be attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda, as well as about 20 European heads of state and government, who will open with a video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Other states will also be represented at ministerial level, with Foreign Secretary David Cameron traveling to Paris on behalf of the UK.
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The United States and Canada will be represented by senior diplomats, but almost all participants will be from Europe, with no representatives from China or India seen.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Roberto Fico, whose government is seen as sympathetic to Russia, will also attend.
According to the French Presidency, the meeting will aim to “consider all measures to effectively support Ukraine.”
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Western officials acknowledge that as Ukraine runs out of arms and ammunition, there is a risk that Russia will gain the upper hand in a 2024 conflict.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Sunday that half of the Western military aid promised to Kiev has been delivered late, lamenting that “promises are not delivered.”
A French presidential official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks needed to counteract “the impression that things are falling apart” following setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
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“We want to send a clear message to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that we will not win in Ukraine,” the official said. Even if no new aid announcements are planned, participants will consider ways to “do things better and more decisively.”
For Macron, who had been preaching the need for Europe to find strategic autonomy on security issues even before the Russian invasion, this meeting is an important opportunity to show that Europe can become even more isolated.
Long-term U.S. aid to Ukraine remains a possibility as new aid packages struggle to win Congressional approval and Donald Trump looks to return to office later this year. Questions about sexuality are on the rise.
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