Zelenskyy arrives in Brussels for surprise visit ahead of NATO meeting

BRUSSELS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a surprise visit to Brussels on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the military alliance confirmed.

"Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will welcome President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to NATO Headquarters this morning," NATO spokesperson Dylan White said on X.

Zelenskyy is set to join a meeting of NATO defense ministers later in the day, according to reports, and will also meet with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to discuss "Belgium’s support for Ukraine and the role that Belgium will play within the F-16 coalition," the PM’s spokesperson François Bailly told journalists.

The trip comes amid the Ukrainian president’s continued efforts to secure modern fighters jets from his Western allies to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This will be Zelenskyy’s second visit to Brussels since the start of the invasion, after he attended a summit of European leaders in February in a visit that made headlines — not least because news of the trip leaked several days before it took place.

Prior to the visit to Brussels, the Ukrainian president was in Bucharest on Tuesday, where he met with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis to discuss regional security and bilateral ties.