Zelensky visits Austria for first time since Russian invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to visit Austria on Monday in his first trip to the European Union member country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Austria is famously neutral a stance it declared in 1955 after World War II and Vienna has come under heavy criticism since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war for maintaining ties with Moscow. Zelensky was scheduled to meet with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Christian Stocker, and the two presidents were set to hold a news conference later on Monday.

This is Stocker’s first high-profile visit from a foreign dignitary since he took office in March at the head of a previously untried three-party coalition after a record five-month wait for a new administration. Austria, which was annexed by Nazi Germany in the run-up to World War II, declared neutrality after the war under pressure from Western allies and the Soviet Union. It sought a role as a mediator between East and West, developing ties with Moscow that outlasted the Cold War.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 138 strike and decoy drones overnight, mainly at the Donetsk region. Of those, 125 were either intercepted or jammed, while 10 reached their targets. Eight others caused damage as falling debris.

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