KYIV (AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday announced meetings this week with several European leaders as he pushes for more military aid to repel Russian forces.
A key meeting with international allies planned for Saturday was earlier postponed after US President Joe Biden called off a planned European visit to focus on the threat from Hurricane Milton to Florida.
The Ukrainian leader has stepped up efforts to rally international backing amid doubts about future US support after the November presidential election in the United States.
"I will meet separately in each country with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany," Zelensky told a press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic after a summit in Dubrovnik.
Zelensky's meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday were announced earlier.
The Ukrainian leader will travel to London to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as new NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday, the UK government confirmed.
Zelensky is then set to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday and local media had reported that he would then also meet Meloni.
'UNWAVERING' SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE
At the start of the "Ukraine-Southeast Europe" summit in Croatia on Wednesday, Zelensky said the European Union must "unite the whole continent, all of Europe's democratic nations including your countries".
"If Europe is not united today it won't be peaceful, so that integration processes that have begun must reach their result," he said, pleading the case for his country and several Balkan states to be allowed into the bloc.
The talks involved heads of state, premiers and foreign ministers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.
Only Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Slovenia are EU members.
Zelensky repeatedly mentioned a peace plan prepared by Kyiv which he would like to present at a peace conference expected in November.
The "peace formula" will be ready by then and will "outline detailed conditions for a just end to the war", he said.
"How do we force Russia to make peace? How do we compel those responsible for the war to follow the peace formula?"
A joint summit declaration condemned Russian aggression, voiced support for Ukraine's "independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity" and confirmed "unwavering commitment to providing continued multifaceted support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes".
MILITARY AID DRIVE
Zelensky says his country needs more aid to counter Russia's advantage in manpower and ammunition in the more than 31-month-long invasion.
Russia has made several battlefield advances in recent months, and is closing in on the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
Only 12,200 people remain in the under-fire city, according to the Ukrainian authorities, with some 30,000 people fleeing in just one month.
Moscow also holds the upper hand in the air, despite Western donations of advanced F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv -- with Ukraine repeatedly calling for more jets and more air defences to help protect its population.
On Wednesday evening a Russian strike on port infrastructure in the Odesa region killed six and injured eight more, according to Ukrainian authorities.
"All the victims are citizens of Ukraine," Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said, adding that four of the injured were "in a serious condition."
Zelensky also wants clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including the United States, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
Ukraine launched a surprise offensive into Russia's neighbouring Kursk region, claiming to control almost 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles) of territory by the end of August.
Some 150,000 Russians have evacuated since the offensive's launch on August 6.
But on Wednesday Russia's defence ministry said it had retaken the villages of Novaya Sorochina and Pokrovsky -- a rare claim of recaptured territory from Moscow.
US BACKING UNCERTAIN
The Ukrainian leader had been scheduled to attend an international meeting of more than 50 countries to discuss military support for Ukraine in Germany on Saturday.
But the US military said the meeting at the Ramstein air base was postponed and did not specify a new date. Biden has pulled out of a tour of Europe and Angola because of Hurricane Milton.
The US presidential election in November could compromise the billions of dollars of support that Ukraine receives from its biggest backer.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has defended Russian President Vladimir Putin and voiced scepticism over US funding for Kyiv.