Ukraine’s president urges EU leaders to make good on their arms promises

BRUSSELS — Ukraine’s president called on European Union leaders on Thursday to make good on their pledges to provide military equipment to his war-ravaged country, just days after the bloc launched membership talks with his government.

“We have to work on next steps,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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.”

Zelenskyy thanked countries that have promised equipment, weapons and ammunition, but underlined that “we need them urgently on the battlefield.”

Russian forces are seeking to press their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukraine’s armed forces are bulked up by promised new Western military aid, some of which is trickling to the front line, analysts say.

The EU launched membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war.

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

The leaders are expected to sign a document of security commitments to Ukraine, which in essence encapsulates what the 27-nation bloc has been doing for the country in terms of financial, military and other assistance since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

Several countries already have similar agreements with Ukraine, offering a long-term commitment to help Kyiv, including once its war with Russia is over. Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden signed one such pact earlier this month which will run for the next decade.