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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky each wooed key allies on Thursday, seeking to back their efforts in a war whose fate has tipped Ukraine in recent days.
In the ancient city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Putin hopes to break his international isolation and further cement his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a geopolitical alliance increasingly seen as a powerful check against Western powers.
Putin and Xi will hold one-on-one talks and discuss Ukraine, according to the Russian president’s foreign affairs adviser.
In Kyiv, Mr. Zelensky was getting out of a traffic accident the night before that left him unscathed, officials said.
On the agenda was a meeting with EU President Ursula von der Leyen, who once again showed a full commitment to the Ukrainian cause.
Ms von der Leyen said she would discuss “how to continue to bring our economy and our people closer as Ukraine gradually joins the EU”, which would take years under the best of circumstances.
While Russian troops in some areas are increasingly being pushed back to the border, Russia continues to strike from behind the front lines.
It fired missiles at a reservoir dam near Kryvyi Rih, the birthplace of Mr Zelensky, forcing local authorities to work urgently to ensure there was no threat to the population.
Kryvyi Rih head Oleksandr Vilkul said on Thursday that officials had blown up two dams to help the river flow, adding that water levels had started to drop.
The attack so close to its roots angered Mr Zelensky, who said the attack had no military value.
“The fact that hitting hundreds of thousands of ordinary civilians is another reason Russia has failed,” he said in an evening speech Wednesday night.
Zelensky himself remained optimistic, saying on Wednesday that nearly 400 settlements had been reoccupied in less than a week of fighting.
“This is an unprecedented movement of our fighters – once again the Ukrainians have managed to do what many thought was impossible,” he said.
He is expected to demand more Western military aid, which is crucial in driving the counteroffensive, and tougher sanctions on Moscow as the war drags on into its seventh month.
German Chancellor Olaf Schultz said Putin remained unwavering in his determination to conquer Ukraine once and for all, despite Ukraine’s rejuvenation on the battlefield and its first domestic criticism.
After a phone call with Mr Putin earlier this week, Mr Scholz said: “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, there is now a growing awareness there that waging this war was a mistake”.
“There is no sign of a new attitude emerging there now,” he added.
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