Ukraine hosted key European allies Monday to press for more air defense support and increased pressure on Moscow, as Russian attacks kill civilians at the highest rate since the war’s opening months.
A meeting of the Coalition of the Willing will be jointly chaired by leaders of France and Germany, who will participate remotely, and U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has arrived in Kyiv for his first trip abroad since taking office.
The leaders of Luxembourg, Moldova, Estonia and EU Council President Antonio Costa are also in Kyiv for the talks hosted on Ukraine's Independence Day and which come amid the war's latest escalation.
"Right now, things are really very difficult for all of us. But there is a force holding us firmly by the hand," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address, adding: "It is the strength of our mutual circle."
He called on allies to give Ukraine "everything it needs to stop this war," after Russia has recently pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles, ripping open apartment blocks and killing dozens in the capital.
