Following last year’s Summit in Tirana, a third Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit took place on Wednesday in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Co-hosted by the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Summit was attended among others by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, President Aleksandar Vučić, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Turkey was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan.

Why is this significant: The Summit sought to demonstrate that the “whole region supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom”, as Prime Minister Plenković put it.

Context: As almost 1000 days have passed since the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, Southeast Europe’s leaders condemned the illegal Russian war of aggression as ‘a great threat to peace, security and stability of South East Europe, the entire European continent, and the world as a whole’. 

They confirmed their commitment to the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea, and to further provide Ukraine with comprehensive assistance to counter Russia’s aggression.

The participants expressed determination to intensify joint efforts to ensure further progress and to mutually support Southeast European countries, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia on their path towards EU membership on a merit-based approach. They stressed that the accession of these new members to the European Union is the best guarantee for regional stability, security and prosperity.