Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made an unexpected appearance at a summit in neighboring Moldova the same day Russia rained more missiles down on Kyiv.
“It’s not simple to come to Moldova,” Zelenskiy said during a brief press conference with the country’s president, Maia Sandu, at the start of the summit.
Zelenskiy arrived in Moldova a day after visiting Ukraine’s eastern Odesa region. The summit is taking place about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital Chisinau and less than a dozen miles away from the breakaway region of Transnistria, which hosts Russian troops on Moldova’s eastern border with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy will hold bilateral meetings at the European Political Community summit, were he will propose setting up a “coalition of Patriots,” he said on Telegram.
Ukraine, which recently received “Patriot” air defense units from its western partners, was shot down all 10 mostly ballistic missiles fired at Kyiv overnight, although falling debris killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded 12.
Among other leaders expected to attend the summit are German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the agenda on European Council website. The European Political Community is a platform for political coordination among European countries, established after Russia’s attack on Ukraine last year.
