Zelensky: Russia to ‘intensify’ fighting as EU decision looms

KYIV—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was likely to intensify its “hostile activity” this week, as Kyiv awaits a historic decision from the European Union on its bid for candidate status.

Nearly three months after Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Zelensky said there had been “few such fateful decisions for Ukraine” as the one it expects from the EU this week.

“Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of Europe,” he said in his evening address Sunday.

“Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week ... We are preparing. We are ready,” he continued.

Moscow’s forces have been pummeling eastern Ukraine for weeks as they try to seize the Donbas region, after being repelled from other parts of the country following their February invasion.

On Friday, Brussels backed Kyiv’s bid for EU candidate status after the heads of the bloc’s biggest members -- France, Germany, and Italy -- paid a visit to the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine could join the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week when member state leaders meet at a Brussels summit.

But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, membership could take years.

NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg meanwhile warned that the war could grind on “for years” and urged Western countries to be ready to offer long-term military, political and economic aid.

“We must not weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high —not only in terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food prices,” Stoltenberg told the German daily newspaper Bild.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western countries to step up their deliveries of arms, despite warnings from nuclear-armed Russia that it could trigger a wider conflict.

Zelensky made a rare trip outside Kyiv Saturday to the hold-out Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, where he visited troops nearby and in the neighboring Odessa region for the first time since the invasion.