Star Metro - Zelensky presses European allies at Moldova summit

As another deadly missile barrage hit Kyiv and Moscow claimed to have repulsed a Ukrainian attempt to "invade" Russian soil, 45 leaders met at a castle winery in eastern Moldova.

Castle Mimi lies only 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border with war-torn Ukraine and even closer to the breakaway pro-Russian Moldovan region of Transnistria, adding to the stark symbolism of the talks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in his smaller neighbour while his own capital Kyiv counted the cost of another night of Russian strikes: three dead, including a child.

In a nod to NATO talks under way in Oslo, Zelensky warned his hosts that Ukraine needs a clear path to membership of the western alliance, if Russia is not to be emboldened by Western doubts.

"We must remember that every doubt we show here in Europe is a trench that Russia will definitely try to occupy," he said, calling for Europe to extend immediate security guarantees and "clear invitations" to NATO membership.

President Maia Sandu welcomed the leaders one by one under a clear blue sky patrolled by NATO early warning aircraft, hoping to boost Moldova's ambitions to join the European Union.

"Ukrainians are fighting for freedom, European values and the future of our continent," she said.

And she dubbed the summit, "a clear expression of our unity, strength and determination to act together as a single family."

Both Kyiv and Chisinau hope to start EU membership talks this year, despite Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and alleged attempts to undermine Moldova's sovereignty.

- 'Security guarantees' -

The EPC summit was also being held less than 10 kilometres from the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, which is occupied by Russian "peacekeepers".

It was held under tight security, with NATO's AWACS surveillance planes flying over neighbouring Romania extending cover over the tiny former Soviet republic's air space.

The European Political Community groups 47 European countries from inside and outside the EU -- and excludes Russia and Belarus.

Only tiny San Marino and Turkey, whose newly-elected president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing for his inauguration, failed to send a leader to the talks.

It is a forum for strategic debate and addressing regional crises and -- for some members -- a potential steppingstone to full EU and or NATO membership.

"We must also think of a wider Europe," France's President Emmanuel Macron, who first promoted the idea of forming the EPC, told reporters in Bratislava on the eve of the summit.

"We must think of our Europe not simply from a security point of view within the framework of NATO and not simply within the framework of the European Union."

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of The Netherlands called for more European allies to join his efforts to build a coalition to supply F-16 jets and Patriot missile batteries to Kyiv.

The Moldova summit also came as NATO ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met to discuss what to say to Ukraine about its quest to join the alliance at its next summit to be held in Vilnius in July.

"Our meeting was not about NATO. But Ukraine raised this issue," Zelensky said.

- 'Rocket barrage' -

Macron has said the allies should find a way to offer "tangible and credible security guarantees to Ukraine" but Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas went further.

"In the long term, the only security guarantee that really works is to end the grey zones in Europe, which means that the only security guarantee really is NATO," she said.

Moscow's defence ministry, meanwhile, said it had "thwarted" an incursion into southwestern Russia by what it said was two Ukrainian motorised infantry companies reinforced with tanks.

dc-burs/rox

S.Lapointe--SMC