President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to France and Germany on Feb. 16-17 to participate in the Munich Security Conference and meet with several European leaders, the Presidential Office announced on Feb. 15.
This trip comes as Zelensky hopes to garner military support amidst the ongoing funding dispute in Washington.
Zelensky will start the tour by meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron in Germany and France, according to the Presidential Office.
The Ukrainian president will then speak on the main stage of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17 and hold several bilateral meetings on the conference's sidelines.
Zelensky will meet U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Czech President Petr Pavel, prime ministers of Denmark and the Netherlands Mette Frederiksen and Mark Rutte, as well as leaders of other states and business representatives.
The Munich Security Conference is an annual event gathering security and defense leaders from around the world. This year, it will take place in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 16-18. Russia and its ally Iran are reportedly not invited.
The 2024 Munich Security Index, a dataset on global risk perceptions prepared ahead of the conference, showed that the perception of Russia as a threat in countries of the Group of Seven (G7) and BRICS (except Russia) has dropped significantly compared to last year's survey.
Bloomberg first reported on Zelensky's plan to hold a European tour in mid-February, suggesting that Zelensky would advocate for expedited military aid to counter Russia's invasion and discussions regarding security assurances for Ukraine.
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