February 16, 2024

BERLIN/PARIS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a new long-term security pact with France on Friday, after securing a similar deal and aid from Germany, in a tour jolted by news of the death of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Zelenskiy is visiting Germany and France to drum up military assistance at a critical point in the war against Russia, with Ukrainian troops trying to hold back Russian forces closing in on the eastern town of Avdiivka and the United States struggles to pass a "vital" multibillion-dollar military aid package for Ukraine.

"It's an ambitious, very substantive security agreement," Zelenskiy told reporters alongside President Emmanuel Macron. "This is not an alternative to the United States. We are all together and this union is necessary to defeat Russia."

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