ISTANBUL 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday held separate talks with various European leaders as he visited Brussels ahead of an upcoming meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing."

The Ukrainian president arrived in Brussels earlier in the day, where he took part and addressed a meeting of the European Council, where the 27-member bloc announced a 19th sanctions package against Russia. Zelenskyy visited Norway and Sweden on Wednesday.

On the sidelines of the European Council meeting, Zelenskyy held talks with European Council President Antonio Costa, and later held separate meetings with the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland and Italy.

He notably met French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"Now is the time when there is a real chance to end the war and stop Russia. To achieve this, we must continue increasing pressure on the Russian Federation, expand support for Ukraine, and finalize the security guarantees," Zelenskyy said on US social media company X after meeting Macron.

He noted that he and the French president discussed the consequences of Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, as well as strengthening Ukraine's air defense and energy resilience, which he said is "one of our key priorities at this stage."

"Defense cooperation was also in focus, including concrete solutions that can make Ukraine stronger," he added.

Zelenskyy later met with Merz to discuss ways to bolster Ukraine's air defense and coordinated steps ahead of the "Coalition of the Willing" meeting, scheduled for London on Friday.

"We count on Germany’s leadership in supporting our energy sector – both in equipment and financial assistance. We focused separately on decisions that can further enhance our air defense," he wrote on X, adding they also discussed the "mechanism for using frozen Russian assets to defend Ukraine."​​​​​​​