February 28 (Reuters) – Volodimir Zelensky has arrived in Tirana, the Albanian Foreign Minister announced on Wednesday, as the Ukrainian president is expected to attend a summit between Ukraine and six Western Balkan countries in the Albanian capital.
This is the first summit in this format since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
“A pivotal moment to promote bilateral relations and show our solidarity with Ukraine in its heroic fight against Russian aggression,” wrote Albanian Foreign Minister Igli Hasani on the social network X.
Volodimir Zelensky, who was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, is due to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as the leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Montenegro.
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Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro are members of NATO, have joined Western sanctions against Russia and have sent weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
Serbia, close to Russia, however, has not imposed sanctions. Like her, Ukraine does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, a former Albanian-speaking Serbian province which nevertheless gave it support against Russia. (Written by Dan Peleshchuk in Kyiv, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, French version Bertrand Boucey)
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