Zelensky calls on allies to ‘urgently strengthen Ukraine’ on battlefield

LVIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday pleaded with other countries to “urgently” send more aid for Kyiv’s troops, struggling against better-equipped Russian forces on several parts of the front.

He was meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, ahead of a meeting in Brussels with NATO chief Mark Rutte and several European leaders.

Zelensky said the leaders would discuss “how to urgently strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield, politically, and geopolitically” in Brussels.

Ukrainian troops, outmanned and exhausted, are struggling in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia on Tuesday claimed the capture of a new village in the region, near the resource-rich hub of Kurakhove, which Moscow is also on the brink of capturing.

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The Ukrainian army is also on the back foot in Russia’s Kursk region, where Russian troops have for three days “been conducting intensive offensive operations,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said.

Ukraine had been occupying parts of the Kursk region since August when it launched a shock cross-border incursion to seize Russian territory.

Both sides are seeking to strengthen their position on the battlefield ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has boasted he would seek a quick end to the conflict, raising fears he would force Kyiv into a deal on Moscow’s terms.

“After President Trump’s inauguration, efforts to stop the war will obviously be intensified,” Zelensky said.

“And we all in Europe need not just a pause… we need real peace. The most important thing is that this is the kind of peace that can be achieved through strength,” he added.

Polish Prime Minister Tusk said Ukraine had “no reason to yield” to Russia in any potential peace talks.

Poland, a NATO member, is a staunch backer of neighbouring Ukraine and serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kyiv.

“We will above all make sure that none of these talks will lead to unfair decisions,” Tusk promised.