PM Fiala one of 20 European leaders to attend Parisian summit on Ukraine

A meeting of European leaders, called by French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss aid to Ukraine, is due to take place in Paris on Monday afternoon. The Czech delegation at the summit, which is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m., will be led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala and will also include National Security Adviser Tomáš Pojar.

A total of 20 government representatives will attend, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Foreign Minister David Cameron, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, considered Putin's main ally in Europe, will not be taking part, the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is also critical of further military aid to Ukraine and described the meeting agenda as "chilling", will.

According to French officials, the summit will be about ways to help Ukraine more effectively, as Ukrainian officials pointed out on Sunday that roughly half of Western military aid is getting to the country late. However, no new military aid to Ukraine is expected to be announced.

These talks come shortly after the second anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at a time when continued US aid to the embattled country is uncertain.