TIRANA, 28 Feb: Ukraine\u2019s president pleaded Wednesday for more ammunition to repel Russia as he co-hosted a summit with Albania\u2019s government to build further support for Kyiv among southeastern European countries while signs of war fatigue grow.
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that increasing the supply of armaments, and especially ammunition, was \u201cthe most fundamental initiative\u201d for Ukraine just over two years since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion. \u201cI think this is the question of: Will we stand or not,\u201d he said during his speech to the summit.
\nZelenskyy arrived in Albania overnight to join a summit of eleven countries from southeastern Europe, including some of Ukraine\u2019s neighbors \u2014 three of them participating online \u2014 along with officials from the European Union and other international organizations.
\nIt was the latest stop in an international tour that saw him in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to push for a peace plan and the return of prisoners of war from Russia.
\nZelenskyy sought to build solidarity among his country and those of the Western Balkans, saying that all of them deserved to be members of the European Union and NATO if they choose.
\n\u201cThe European Union and NATO have provided Europe with the longest and most reliable era of security and economic development, and we are all equally worthy of being a part of the European and Euro-Atlantic communities,\u201d Zelenskyy said.
\nHe said that Kyiv wanted \u201cinternational law and global stability to be based on truly multilateral and transparent processes.\u201d
\nSecuring further support is key to Ukraine\u2019s leader while his country faces battlefield challenges. Zelenskyy on Sunday announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia\u2019s invasion \u2014 the first time that Kyiv had confirmed the number of its losses.
\nHe acknowledged in Tirana that \u201cthe problems with the supply of ammunition … are effecting the situation on the battlefield,\u201d though added that \u201cwe proved that it is possible to withstand and overcome even an enemy that seemed to be one of the strongest in the world.\u201d
\nUkraine has urged Western leaders to increase the joint production of weapons and ammunition, improve Ukrainian air defenses and put new pressure on Russia via expanded sanctions.
\nNot all the countries at the meeting are in full support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Kremlin ally Serbia is the only European country that has refused to align with EU sanctions following Russia\u2019s invasion. It continues signing cooperation agreements with Moscow.
\nSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he insisted that the summit statement should not include any call for sanctions on Russia and should not include proposed wording about Russia\u2019s negative influence in the Balkan region.
\nAlbania, a NATO member since 2009 and a candidate for EU membership, has voiced its full support for Kyiv against Russia\u2019s invasion. It has provided military assistance in the form of ammunition and training of Ukrainian military. It was among the first countries offering shelter to Ukrainian refugees. It has joined international sanctions against Russian officials and institutions.
\nAs a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in the last two years, Albania joined the U.S. in initiating resolutions against Russia\u2019s invasion.
\nAlbanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who Zelensky called Ukraine\u2019s \u201cunwavering friend,\u201d wrote on Facebook that he was proud to welcome Zelenskyy for \u201ca solidarity meeting and to further the commitment of our democracies against Russian aggression.\u201d
\nZelenskyy said all of the countries at the summit must remain vigilant over what Russian President Vladimir Putin does next.
\n\u201cThe interaction between us, between neighbors, between neighboring regions, between all partners, has become a factor that along with the resilience of our people in Ukraine, does not allow Putin to prevail,\u201d Zelenskyy said. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TIRANA, 28 Feb: Ukraine\u2019s president pleaded Wednesday for more ammunition to repel Russia as he co-hosted a summit with Albania\u2019s government to build further support for Kyiv among southeastern European countries while signs of war fatigue grow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that increasing the supply of armaments, and especially ammunition, was \u201cthe most fundamental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-235823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}