Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking via video link at a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, called on European states to make efforts to prevent military escalation in the Middle East.

“I thank everyone who is making every effort to maintain unity with Ukraine and within the European Union. I would like to emphasize unity in connection with the situation in the Middle East. We must do everything to prevent an even greater international fire in the Middle East,” Zelenskyy stated.

As he emphasized, “the enemies of freedom are very interested in taking the free world to a second front, and we must clearly see this calculation and resist it together.”

“I thank all the leaders whose active diplomacy is already working for the benefit of security. The sooner security dominates there in the Middle East, the sooner we will restore security here in Europe,” the President said.