Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will appeal for greater European support, as he meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss rising tensions with Russia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will join the meeting via video link.
Kyiv and Moscow have blamed one another for the spike in violence in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has accused Russia of a “provocative” build-up of troops there.
Zelenskyy wants NATO to intervene and is also pressing for his country to join both the European Union and the NATO alliance.
“It’s an important meeting,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday after a meeting of Ukraine’s security council. He said the situation in the east was “under control.”
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, he also said that “it is time (for the EU) to stop talking and make decisions.”
“I think the European policy towards Ukraine must be 100 per cent clear. If the EU and Emmanuel Macron really consider us a member of the European family, they should act accordingly,” he added.
France, Germany and Ukraine, along with Russia, form the Normandy format of countries that have tried to resolve the conflict since 2015.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Merkel agreed to call on Moscow to reduce its troops on the border with Ukraine but Russia dismissed the pressure.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that “it would be very important for us that Mr Macron and Ms Merkel use their influence during this video conference with Mr Zelenskyy to explain to him the possibility of a definitive cessation of all provocations,” on the front.
“Of course, this (meeting) would be a good opportunity to recall the need to implement the Minsk agreements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.
Earlier, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Western countries including Germany and France should “stop participating in the propaganda campaign surrounding Russian activity on Russian territory that does not threaten anybody”.
Ukraine’s military has been fighting Russian-backed forces since 2014.
youtuon correspondents Anelise Borges and Galina Polonskaya are following today’s meeting in Paris. Listen to their analysis by clicking on the media player above.