Ukraine’s Zelensky joins EU leaders in Brussels to address his ongoing need for more money and a firmer stance towards Russia.
Nearly five months into Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, military officials admit it’s slipping away. Whether the Ukrainians can hold onto parts of Russia’s Kursk region is a question no one on the front lines can answer.
Zelensky joins EU leaders in Brussels
Ukraine’s president has been pressing the European Union to do more to support his country, nearly three years into the war with Russia. Joining an EU summit in Brussels, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said European security guarantees will not be enough to protect Ukraine without the backing of NATO and the US.
Facing a shortage of troops and money, Ukraine is desperate, it has started releasing people from prisons if they sign up to fight against Russia. Formerly incarcerated people as they trained before being sent to the front line.
Transit of gas through Ukraine
Zelensky is also getting a lot of pressure from within the EU, with countries frustrated that he is not able to make a deal and end the disruption to their energy supply.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico called Zelensky with that specific purpose and said “My meeting today was a response to the Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, who answered my personal question on Thursday that he was against any transit of gas through Ukraine to our territory,” .
He added that this position, and Zelensky favouring sanctions against Russia’s nuclear program, was “financially damaging Slovakia and endangering the production of electricity in nuclear power plants in Slovakia, which is unacceptable.”
He said that Putin had indicated a willingness to continue providing Slovakia and the West with gas, but that this was “practically impossible” given Zelensky’s position.
Special dispensation from the EU
Slovakia has special dispensation from the EU, whose stated goal as a bloc is to eventually cut all ties to Russian gas, to continue importing from state energy giant Gazprom, but without Ukraine’s cooperation that means that delivery does not currently exist.