Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in Ankara Tuesday to attend the two-day summit of NATO, where the Russia-Ukraine war will be a high-priority item on the agenda.
The Ukrainian leader renewed calls for additional Western military assistance, particularly air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, saying Ukraine urgently needs more interceptor missiles, after the conflict escalated in recent weeks.
"We very much expect that the summit now in Ankara – the summit of the strongest Euro-Atlantic states – will not become a hollow exercise. And that our protection of life, our security cooperation, and defense capabilities here in Europe and with America will become stronger through joint work and joint decisions," Zelenskyy said in a televised address Monday. "Decisions are needed," Zelenskyy added.
He urged the U.S. and European countries to emerge from the 2026 NATO summit with "strong decisions" in support of Ukraine's air defenses and the protection of civilians.
Earlier Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that a resolution to the more than four-year-old war in Ukraine is "getting closer than people realize" and that he will talk about Ukraine during talks in Türkiye.
