Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said fresh pledges of military support from the United States and several European countries during the past week have strengthened Ukraine as it prepares for battles in the coming winter.
In an evening video message on October 14, Zelenskiy also said a conference during the week in Croatia on demining had emphasized that Ukraine needs help from the world in clearing mines laid by Russian forces.
“I am grateful to all of our partners who have provided new military aid packages. Air defense, artillery, drones, armored vehicles, and other items,” Zelenskiy said, summing up a week in which he joined a meeting of more than 50 defense leaders from around the world at NATO headquarters in Brussels to request more military aid to last through the winter.
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Zelenskiy's presence at the meeting underscored growing concerns about international backing for Kyiv in its war against Russia's invasion, and worries over slow progress by Ukrainian forces in their counteroffensive.
Zelenskiy met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the new chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, saying afterward that he had received assurances from Washington that military aid to Ukraine would remain "constant and uninterrupted."
Zelenskiy said there was a “clear confirmation of support…for Ukraine, a clear willingness to intensify our actions together and continue to put pressure on the occupier both in the fall and winter.”
During the week the Pentagon announced a fresh package of weaponry for Kyiv worth $200 million, including air defense missiles to help Ukraine stave off an expected winter onslaught by Russia.
The United States also announced that it will co-chair the F-16 coalition with the Netherlands and Denmark in what Zelenskiy said was an “important decision.”
Other countries that announced support for Ukraine during the week were the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, Norway, Finland, and Germany, Zelenskiy said, thanking each of them. He also noted a joint defense package with the Czech Republic and Denmark.
“At a time when terror is spreading across the globe, it is important that the world gives the strongest possible signal that protection against terror will not falter anywhere," Zelenskiy said in the video.
Zelenskiy also noted that Belgium this week became the first country to send funds generated by Russian assets to Ukraine.
“We are working with other EU countries and the rest of the world to ensure that [individual countries] use the aggressor’s funds in a fair way -- to defend against aggression,” he said.
New decisions to support demining were announced after the conference in Croatia attended by representatives of 40 countries.
Zelenskiy said almost a third of the territory of Ukraine is contaminated by mines or unexploded shells.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on September 27 announced during a forum in Kyiv that a plan for surveying and clearing agricultural land is being implemented.