2023-07-07 12:09:24
War in Ukraine
Zelensky on an international tour for arms and support
After visiting Sofia and Prague, the Ukrainian president arrived in Bratislava on Friday. In the evening, he will travel to Istanbul to meet his Turkish counterpart Erdogan.
PostedJuly 7, 2023, 2:09 PM
Zelensky arrived in Bratislava on Friday, where he met Slovak President Zuzana Caputova.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to arrive in Bratislava in the early followingnoon and will then head to Istanbul where he is due to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the early evening, the final leg of his international tour aimed at securing more Western arms and Allied support for Kiev’s ambition to join NATO.
“It only depends on the United States”
Ahead of his first trip to Turkey since the start of the invasion in February 2022, Zelensky once more pressed Westerners to deliver him long-range weapons whose absence slows down the Ukrainian counter-offensive, he says ongoing for a month. “Without long-range weapons, it is difficult not only to carry out offensive missions but also, to be honest, defensive operations,” he said Friday from Prague.
“We are discussing it with the United States, it only depends on them at the moment,” added Zelensky, who arrived in Prague on Thursday, following visiting Bulgaria, a NATO member and major ammunition producer, the same day. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that his country would send helicopter gunships to Kiev and train Ukrainian pilots on American-made F-16 jet fighters that Ukraine has been asking for from the West for months.
US media reported that the Pentagon was preparing a new arms and ammunition package but the final decision was yet to be made.
The grain agreement under discussion
Negotiations with the Turkish president, who has close ties with Kiev and Moscow, are expected to focus on an agreement to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea despite the war as well as the NATO summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius. The grain deal reached in July 2022 with the sponsorship of the United Nations and Turkey expires on July 17 and Russia has said it sees no reason to extend it.
The Kremlin said Friday to follow the discussions between Zelensky and Erdogan “very closely” while promising to maintain a “constructive partnership with Ankara” by welcoming the “role of mediator” of the Turkish president in the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s accession to NATO
Already on Thursday Zelensky once more asked for a “clear signal” on Ukraine’s eventual membership of NATO. “Ukraine has not received an invitation in one form or another,” he said.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg – who was recently reappointed head of NATO – however clarified on Friday that NATO members would “reaffirm” at the Vilnius summit next week that Ukraine will one day become a member of the Alliance. “I expect our leaders to reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and to unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal,” the Norwegian official said during a meeting. press conference, refusing to indicate what exact wording might be used.
In Bratislava, talks will focus on “concrete defense support, Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, NATO summit and peace formula, bilateral cooperation and energy security”, said the Ukrainian president in a tweet.
(AFP)Show comments
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