dmytro kuleba, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. i think we have to begin with the military situation. details are limited, but would you accept that right now the ukrainian counteroffensive has not succeeded in punching a significant hole in russia s defensive line in your country? we are moving forward. that s the most important thing. when we speak with our generals and with independent experts, they all say that in the counter offensive, the most important thing is to keep moving forward, whatever the pace is. i wish we broke all the lines by now and reached the sea of azov, but we re not stopping. and you have to take into account that for nine months russia was literally digging into the land, into the soil, reinforcing its trenches with concrete and steel, and mining virtually every square metre. in some areas, our soldiers are moving only 200 or 300 metres per day, crawling. at terrible cost, too. this is a war. and the difference between now and the russians is that we
it s also struggled for years with pro russian rebels. moldova s president said hosting the summit, just 20km from ukraine s border, was a show of solidarity with kyiv. president zelensky has been at the gathering where he emphasised once again that ukraine should be allowed to join both nato and the eu urgently. every european country that borders russia and that does not want russia to tear it apart, should be a full member of the eu and nato. and there are only two alternatives to this either an open war or creeping russian occupation. our correspondentjenny hill is in chisinau for us. today was largely about symbolism, as is often the case with this kind of summit. it s no accident that those european leaders chose to meet here in moldova. of all of ukraine s neighbours, it arguably has the most reason to feel vulnerable in the wake of vladimir putin s full scale invasion of ukraine. moldova is a former soviet state. it s wedged between ukraine and the eu. for many ye
alternatives to this either an open war or creeping russian occupation. our correspondent jenny hill is in chisinau, and has more on the summit. today was largely about symbolism, as is often the case with this kind of summit. it s no accident that those european leaders chose to meet here in moldova. of all of ukraine s neighbours, it arguably has the most reason to feel vulnerable in the wake of vladimir putin s full scale invasion of ukraine. moldova is a former soviet state. it s wedged between ukraine and the eu. for many years it s been heavily dependent on moscow forfuel, forfinance, and whilst its government leans heavily to the west, it s desperate to join the eu, there is a region, transnistria, which is in the hands of pro russian separatists. there are still russian troops there. it s a hangover from the soviet era and the way in which it ended in this part of the world. so for those european leaders who gathered in that rural castle today was about sending a me
moldova s president said hosting the summit just 20km from ukraine s border, was a show of solidarity with kyiv. president zelensky has been at the gathering where he emphasised once again that ukraine should be allowed to join both nato and the eu urgently. every european country that borders russia and that does not want russia to tear it apart, should be a full member of the eu and nato. and there are only two alternatives to this either an open war or creeping russian occupation. our correspondentjenny hill is in kishi no for us. today was largely about symbolism, as is often the case with this kind of summit. it s no accident that those european leaders chose to meet here in moldova. of all of ukraine s neighbours, it arguably has the most reason to feel vulnerable in the wake of vladimir putin s full scale invasion of ukraine. moldova is a former soviet state. it s wedged between ukraine and the eu. for many years it s been heavily dependent on moscow for fuel, forf