May 9, 2025
Zelenskyy says that the leaders of the “wishes coalition” to meet in Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that leaders of the “Coalition of the Willing” will meet on Saturday in kyiv.
“We need this coalition, and we need it to be strong enough to guarantee security,” Zelenskyy told a military summit in Oslo via the video link on Friday.
The Coalition is an initiative led by France and the United Kingdom which was announced by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after a summit of the kyiv allies in London.
This summit took place following American mediation efforts with Russia, talks that did not include Ukrainian or European officials.
The initiative was joined by 33 nations which promised to provide more support for Ukraine against the invasion of Russia, in particular by being part of a potential peacekeeping force on Ukrainian territory.
Most of the 27 EU members have registered, with four notable exceptions. Malta died, citing his neutrality, although Ireland – which is also neutral – has joined.
Hungary and Slovakia have also refused to join the coalition.
The rest of the initiative partners are made up of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Iceland, Turkey and Norway.
Russia said it would consider the presence of Western troops in Ukraine as a hostile act and warned that the coalition could trigger a war between NATO and Moscow.
Kyiv called on its European allies to send soldiers to enforce a potential ceasefire and to ward off any potential future aggression of Russia, as well as to urge them to increase sanctions.
