Brussels (agencies)
Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his invitation to his American counterpart, Joe Biden, to participate in a peace summit on Ukraine scheduled to be held in Switzerland. During a visit to Belgium during which he received a promise to support Kiev, Zelensky said about Biden that his absence would be a support for Russia, while Washington has not confirmed his participation in the summit scheduled to be held in Switzerland on June 15 and 16, and about 90 countries have confirmed their participation in the summit.
Zelensky said on the sidelines of a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo that the countries boycotting the summit are “satisfied” with the war that Ukraine has been witnessing for more than two years.
President Zelensky and De Croo initialed a bilateral agreement stipulating that Belgium would hand over 30 F-16 fighters to Kiev by 2028.
During his brief visit to Brussels after a stop in Madrid last Monday, and another in Lisbon yesterday, Zelensky announced that the “long-term” military assistance agreement includes Belgium helping Ukraine secure weapons, ammunition and armor worth 977 million euros in 2024 alone.
He also said that the first of the promised 30 F-16s would be delivered “this year.”
The Belgian government, which is still waiting to receive the F-35 fighters it ordered to gradually replace its aging fleet of F-16 aircraft, said it hopes to deliver the first fighter to Kiev “if possible before the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries gave their approval to Ukraine to use their weapons to target Russian territory. This comes as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, Oleksandr Sersky, said that he welcomed “France’s initiative to send trainers to Ukraine to train members of the Ukrainian army.”
During a visit to Uzbekistan, Putin noted that “this continued escalation could lead to serious consequences.” Putin considered that the West provoked the latest Russian operation in the Ukrainian Kharkiv region by ignoring Russia’s warnings to allow Ukraine to attack the adjacent Russian Belgorod region.
Putin stated that attacks on Russian territory with weapons provided by the West to Ukraine are possible only with the help of specialists from Western countries, adding that this could lead to serious consequences.
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