Zelensky leans on Poland for winter fuel lifeline and fast-track EU push

Zelensky said Thursday in a Telegram post that he met Tusk a day earlier, and thanked the Polish people for "supporting our independence and contributing to protecting lives in Ukraine." The two leaders put Russia's strikes at the top of the agenda.

They also weighed ramping up Ukraine-Poland communication to widen transport links for fuel supplies — a fix Zelensky tied directly to surviving the cold. "This is what can really support Ukraine's energy sustainability" through the winter months, he wrote.

The pair went further, discussing steps to accelerate Kyiv's path into the European Union. Zelensky framed the bloc as more than an economic club: "We consider membership in the European Union as one of the security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe," he said.

The meeting landed as diplomacy churned elsewhere. Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down in Moscow with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday for roughly two and a half hours, according to Russian media, telling them Russia was ready for dialogue and floating a localized ceasefire in Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region.