Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due in Paris on Monday for talks with two dozen European leaders helping Kyiv fight Russia’s military operation, with the war now in its fifth year.
European foreign ministers were also meeting separately in Brussels where they were expected to discuss Ukraine’s needs and Russia’s threats to the continent.
Both Kyiv and its European backers are keen to press home Ukraine’s recent successes and compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the fighting, although Moscow has shown no willingness to compromise despite a yearlong peace effort by the Trump administration.
Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have in recent months given it an edge, analysts and Western officials say. Its strikes on supply routes behind the front line have robbed the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield and made its progress slow and costly, they say.
Kyiv’s forces have especially targeted supplies to Crimea, triggering the worst fuel crisis on the Black Sea peninsula since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and delivering a blow to the Kremlin’s narrative that Moscow is winning the war.
Zelenskyy is keen to move quickly on plans for jointly developing with European countries anti-ballistic air defenses that can help stop Russia’s devastating attacks on Ukraine’s power grid.
“Everyone in the world sees that Ukraine needs more air defense, more protection of life,” Zelenskyy said Monday on social media after the latest overnight attacks across Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump’s pledge last week to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv. However, experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would likely take years.
The meeting in Paris of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which brings together more than 30 countries supporting Ukraine, was expected to include around 25 heads of state and government.
The notably high number of leaders appeared to be a demonstration of long-term commitment to Ukraine and a warning to Russia, as Moscow tests Europe’s resilience.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Monday that he would summon the Russian ambassador to France and impose sanctions against Russian hackers. He told BFMTV-RMC that the issue is about “a vast cyber campaign aimed at sabotage and espionage, carried out by Russia in about 10 European countries.”
Ukraine’s neighbours have also felt the war’s impact.
In the latest incident, a drone launched during Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine’s Odesa region crashed and exploded on Moldova’s territory, Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday. It said the incident was “serious and unacceptable.”
Zelenskyy was traveling to the French capital after the death of US Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters in Washington, and amid a major and incomplete reshuffle of his government that saw Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko step down on Sunday.
