US President Joe Biden is due to visit Germany on Friday, having cancelled a visit last week because of Hurricane Milton in the US and the postponement of a meeting of Ukraine's allies last Saturday.
The visit comes as Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Donetsk City, and Robotyne in eastern Ukraine and while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleads for rapid arms and other assistance to help end the war with Russia on favorable terms.
A German government source said Sunday that “Biden is coming to Berlin on Friday” for a one-day visit.
According to German media reports, Biden will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East expected to be high on his agenda.
Biden's original visit to Germany was to have taken place between October 10 and 12 and to have included a four-way summit with Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Biden had also planned to hold a meeting of more than 50 of Ukraine's allies to discuss further support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia's invasion.
The Ukrainian President had been expected to attend that meeting but instead went on a whirlwind two-day tour of European capitals, including Berlin, to ask for sustained military aid as Russia's invasion of Ukraine grinds on through its third year.
Time must not be wasted
Zelensky urged on Sunday Western partners to provide swift aid to help fight off Russia's invasion following his whistle-stop visit to Germany and other European countries.
“Time must not be wasted – a clear signal of resolve must be sent,” Zelensky posted on X.
“Our partners have the ability to provide the necessary quantity and quality of air defense systems, make decisions for our sufficient long-range capabilities, and ensure the timely delivery of defensive aid to our troops,” he added.
Zelensky said the Russians had dropped around 900 glide bombs over Ukraine in the last week, in addition to attacks with 40 missiles and 400 strikes with drones of various types. He released a video of the damage caused.
At the field level, Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday that its forces had taken control of the village of Mykhailivka in eastern Ukraine, where they have been advancing towards the important logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
Reuters said it could not independently confirm the capture of Mykhailivka, which sits alongside a highway southeast of Pokrovsk.
In return, the Ukrainian military said in its daily report that its troops repelled 36 Russian assaults in the Pokrovsk area, including near Mykhailivka.
‘We are holding’
The Ukrainian President said in a speech late on Saturday that Russian forces were trying to oust Ukrainian troops from their positions in Russia’s Kursk region but Kyiv’s forces were holding strong. “Russia tried to push back our positions, but we are holding the designated lines,” the president said.
Zelensky acknowledged that the Ukrainian advance into Kursk was intended to draw Russian troops away from frontline positions in eastern Ukraine.
He acknowledged that in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, partly held by Russian forces, "there are very difficult conditions, with harsh enemy actions.”
“But the resilience of our units is crucial. Everything depends on our resilience,” he added.
