London, Oct 24: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due in London on Friday for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to protect his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war.
The meeting hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also due to discuss ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missile attacks as winter approaches, enhancing Ukrainian air defences, and supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.
The talks aim to step up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding momentum to measures in recent days that have included a new round of sanctions from the United States and European countries that take aim at Russia’s vital oil and gas export earnings. Putin has so far resisted efforts to push him into negotiating a peace settlement with Zelenskyy and has argued that the motives for Russia’s all-out invasion of its smaller neighbour are legitimate. Russia has also been adept at finding loopholes in Western sanctions.
That unbending stance has exasperated Western leaders. “Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace,” Starmer said in written comments ahead of Friday’s meeting.
Ukraine’s Western allies need to resolve some big questions about the future part they will play as Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II heads toward its fourth anniversary next February.
The uncertainties include how they can help fund war-devastated Ukraine, what postwar security guarantees they might be able to provide it, and nail down what Washington’s commitments to future security arrangements might be. (AP)
