FILE PHOTO: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends an EU summit with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 2, 2023. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
KYIV (Reuters) - Air raid alerts sounded in Kyiv and across Ukraine on Friday as a summit of European Union and Ukrainian leaders was due to begin in the country's capital.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was hosting top European Union officials, who were visiting Kyiv with promises to support Ukraine "as long as it takes" but denying the country at war with Russia a quick path to joining the Western bloc.
Zelenskiy was hosting EU chairman Charles Michel and the bloc's chief executive, Ursula von der Leyen, ahead of the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion that has devastated cities, killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes and shaken global food and energy supplies.
"The EU will support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people against Russia's ongoing war of aggression for as long as it takes," the three leaders will say in a joint statement, a draft of which was seen by Reuters in advance.
(Reporting by Max Hunder and Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alex Richardson)
