Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the situation on the front in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine as extremely difficult.
Donetsk's Kramatorsk, Kurakhove and Pokrovsk directions are seeing the most fighting of all, Zelensky said in his video message broadcast in Kiev on Tuesday evening.
In the Kharkiv region, on the other hand, the Ukrainian armed forces are succeeding in destroying the occupying forces, he said. The results are noticeable, Zelensky said after a meeting with the Ukrainian military leadership.
Zelensky also said that the Western allies had again been informed of the urgent requirements for the defence campaign against the Russian invasion at a meeting in the so-called Ramstein format with the United States at the helm.
Ukraine needs air defence, tank technology and artillery shells, Zelensky said, noting that he is grateful to every state and partner for their help. However, the means to destroy the enemy must come now, in these weeks - "and not sometime in the summer," he stressed.
On Tuesday, Zelensky once again met German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kiev. "I thanked her for all her support - Germany is one of our most important partners in the security and political sphere and in the context of our European integration."
Germany understands that the actual EU accession negotiations for Ukraine must begin in June, said Zelensky. However, this is not a done deal. The EU members are expected to decide on a possible start to the talks after the European elections in June.
Zelensky provided information about a "diplomatic marathon," talks with foreign colleagues and preparations for the planned peace summit in Switzerland on June 15 and 16.
At the meeting with leaders from all over the world, he said he wanted to set the course for a just peace with Russia. The aim is to implement his peace formula, said Zelensky.
One of the core demands of the formula is that Moscow withdraws its armed forces from the occupied territories. Russia, which started the war in February 2022, was not invited to the conference and criticized the Zelensky formula as "unrealistic."