• Zelensky and EU leaders will discuss urgent matters, including air defense.
• He expresses gratitude to countries for providing equipment, weapons, and ammunition.
• EU initiated membership talks with Ukraine a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s president urged European Union leaders to fulfill their pledges to provide military equipment to his war-ravaged country, following the bloc’s launch of membership talks with his government just days ago.

“We have to work on next steps,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Brussels as he arrived to attend a summit of EU leaders. He said he and the leaders would discuss “the urgent things -– air defense, that is one.”

Zelensky expressed gratitude to countries that have promised equipment, weapons, and ammunition, but emphasized that “we urgently need them on the battlefield.”

Analysts say that Russian forces are aiming to capitalize on their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukraine’s armed forces receive promised new Western military aid, with some aid already reaching the front line.

On Tuesday, the EU initiated membership talks with Ukraine, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to dissuade the country from aligning closer with the West. This event marked a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war.

“We waited for this, a long period,” Zelensky said, thanking the EU for its approval.

The leaders are expected to sign a document of security commitments to Ukraine, which essentially summarizes the financial, military, and other assistance the 27-nation bloc has provided to the country since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

Several countries have already established similar agreements with Ukraine, committing long-term support to Kyiv, even after its war with Russia concludes. Earlier this month, Zelensky and US President Joe Biden signed one such pact that will last for the next decade.

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