Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on February 29 that his meetings with Western Balkan leaders at a summit in Tirana will help Ukrainian troops get more of the artillery shells they badly need to fend off advancing Russian forces.
Zelenskiy said his forces will receive more artillery under new defense agreements he reached during the two-day summit hosted by Albania.
“We use every meeting and every day to provide more capabilities to our warriors,” he said in his nightly video address. “We had good talks in Albania – as always principled support and not only in terms of our bilateral relations but also in terms of how to make the dialogue with those states that are still reserved in their support more meaningful.”
Every country should remember that global stability is currently held together by the bravery and dedication of Ukrainian warriors and all of our people. Frontline reports include the names of Ukrainian towns and villages, but everyone understands and sees that Putin%27s… pic.twitter.com/nLuQZIrq6Y
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 29, 2024
Zelenskiy added that the participants of the summit will take part in a global peace summit that has been proposed to be held in Switzerland in the coming months to discuss his vision for peace.
“It’s planned to be held in Switzerland and we already see opportunities for broad representation of countries from around the world,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia has already rejected the idea.
Zelenskiy, who also mentioned his visit to Saudi Arabia prior to the Tirana summit, said 2024 should be a time of maximum pragmatism in relations with Ukraine’s neighbors.
“Everyone sees that Russia is not going to stop,” he said.
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Russian forces are pushing against more Ukrainian towns and villages in eastern and southeastern Ukraine, hitting some Ukrainian defensive positions hard by deploying overwhelming amounts of artillery and troops.
The Russian Army currently is trying to seize Tonenke, Orlivka, Semenivka, Berdychi, and Krasnohorivka in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s army chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on social media.
Ukrainian military officials said earlier that Ukraine would form a new line of defense in those areas after Ukrainian troops pulled out of Avdiyivka on February 17.
In the southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, Russian forces are focusing on retaking Verbove and Robotyne, towns that Ukraine won back last summer, Syrskiy said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that its forces shot down three Russian Su-34 jets overnight. That makes a total of 11 warplanes that Ukraine claims to have downed since February 17.
“The enemy has increased its air presence in the east. Our top military leadership reacted accordingly,” air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on national television.
The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces also said on February 29 that 19 Russian soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in a missile strike on a group of Russian troops in Olenivka in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region.
According to the statement, a deputy commander of a Russian military unit was among those killed, while the unit's commander was among the wounded. The statement has not been confirmed by Russia's military.