Top EU officials met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of support for the country as it battles to counter the Kremlin’s forces and strives to join the EU as well as Nato.
The last such summit was held in Kyiv in October 2021 — a few months before the war started. The highly symbolic visit is also the first EU political mission of its kind to a country at war.
The high-level meeting came as a 60-year-old man was killed and six others were wounded on Friday after Russian missiles hit central Toretsk, a town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Facebook.
Ukrainian authorities reported on Friday at least six civilians were killed and 20 others were wounded over the previous 24 hours.
Among the dead were two brothers, ages 49 and 42, killed when Russian shelling destroyed an apartment building in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s presidential office said. Their 70-year-old father was hospitalised with unspecified injuries.
Also, six people were wounded and 18 apartment buildings, two hospitals and a school were damaged in a Russian attack in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Thursday, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian TV. Three people died when a Russian missile hit an apartment building in that city on Wednesday.
European officials were adamant about continuing to support Ukraine militarily and economically, but they didn’t provide any new details about Ukraine’s accession path to the EU.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s goal “is to start negotiations this year”. But the process will likely take years and require the adoption of far-reaching reforms, including a clampdown on endemic corruption as the country receives billions of dollars in aid. Kyiv formally submitted its application last June.
Zelenskyy said progress had been made to further economically integrate Ukraine into the EU across several sectors, including agriculture, industry, energy and customs.
Ukraine’s government is keen to get more Western military aid, on top of the tanks pledged last week, as the warring sides are expected to launch new offensives once winter ends. Kyiv is now asking for fighter jets.
The US is expected to announce on Friday (Saturday NZ) it will send longer-range bombs to Ukraine as part of a new US$2.17 billion (NZ$3.42) aid package.
Ukraine’s forces are bracing for an expected new onslaught by the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv’s forces “have a chance” of beating back the looming offensive if supplied with the right Western weapons, Zelenskyy said.
“Our task is not to give them [an] opportunity [for revenge] until our army is strengthened with appropriate weapons. I think we have a chance,” Zelenskyy added.
Officials in the eastern Luhansk region said Russian forces had disabled mobile internet connections, stepped up shelling and deployed more troops in preparation for an offensive there.
EU assistance for Ukraine has reached almost £50 billion euros (NZ$85b) since the fighting started, according to officials from the bloc.
The EU is providing Ukraine with financial and humanitarian aid, among other things.
The bloc also announced it is ramping up its military training mission for Ukraine, from an initial target of pushing 15,000 troops through the schooling to up to 30,000 troops. One focus is to train the crews of tanks that Western countries have offered Ukraine. - AP
