UKRAINE’S president co-hosted a summit with Albania’s government today, meant to encourage further support for Kiev by south-eastern European countries.

This comes as Ukraine struggles with what increasingly looks like a losing conflict with Russia, just days after the second anniversary of the Kremlin launching its invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived from Saudi Arabia before midnight on Tuesday, the latest stop in an international tour aimed at attempting to shore up his ailing forces.

Mr Zelensky today called Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama “Ukraine’s unwavering friend” in a message on X, formerly Twitter, adding the two would “discuss defence and political co-operation, support for the peace formula and security agreements.”

“I will propose supporting Ukraine’s efforts to achieve just and lasting peace, as well as organising the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland,” he said.

Prime Minister Rama wrote on Facebook that he was proud to welcome President Zelensky for “a solidarity meeting and to further the commitment of our democracies against Russian aggression.”

Ukraine faces a desperate situation on the battlefield, where they appear to be massively outnumbered and outgunned by Russia.

Mr Zelensky announced on Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia’s invasion, a number thought by many experts to be a significant underestimate of its losses.

Ukraine has urged Western leaders to increase the joint production of weapons and ammunition, improve Ukrainian air defences and to expand sanctions against Russia.

Nato’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the United States-led military alliance has no plans to send troops to Ukraine; Germany, Poland and other countries this week have said the same.

This comes a day after remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that sending Western troops into the conflict should not be “ruled out.”