<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">European leaders meet Thursday at a summit held on one of the most vulnerable points on the continent's strategic frontline, in a show of diplomatic force designed to pressure Moscow.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The European Political Community (EPC), which groups 27 EU members with 40 of their allies and excludes Russia and Belarus, chose Ukraine's tiny neighbour Moldova for its second summit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Less than an hour's drive from a Russian-backed breakaway Moldovan region and not much further from war-torn Ukraine, they will try to send a message to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First and foremost, holding the summit outside Chisinau shows solidarity with Moldova in the face of Russian destabilisation operations and support for its EU membership bid.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is also an opportunity for European states -- whether EU members, recent leaver Britain or candidates for future membership like Ukraine -- to work together on regional crises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We must also think of a wider Europe," France's President Emmanuel Macron, who first promoted the EPC, told reporters in Bratislava on the eve of the summit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"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."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's travel plans are never announced in advance, for security reasons in the wake of Russia's invasion of his country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Security guarantees' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But if he takes up his invitation to the EPC, he will be seeking not just solidarity but progress on Ukraine's parallel bids to join NATO and the European Union.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Moldova summit also came as NATO ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met to discuss the agenda of the alliance's next summit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 will debate how formal a promise to give Kyiv on how and when to join the alliance, but in the interim Europe is keen to show support.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Macron acknowledged that Ukraine's forces battling Russian invaders in the east and south of their country are "protecting Europe".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And he said the allies should find a way to offer "tangible and credible security guarantees to Ukraine" while the eventual questions of EU and NATO membership are pending.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose country left the European Union but remains in NATO, said, "Putin's utter contempt of other countries' sovereignty" showed the need for unity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We cannot address these problems without Europe's governments and institutions working closely together," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NATO member Turkey's newly re-elected leader President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing his formal inauguration at home and is not expected at the meeting, diplomats said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With up to 47 heads of state and government invited, not much time has been set aside for a general group discussion, but diplomats hope side meetings will deal with practical issues.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Macron and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz will convene a meeting between foes Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yerevan and Baku have fought for decades over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, but have both been invited to the EPC as Washington and Brussels push for a peace deal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another long-standing European conflict, the standoff between Serbia and Kosovo will be on the agenda, with leaders from Pristina and Belgrade under pressure to dial down tensions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Big progress' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, for Moldova itself, the summit will mark a crucial step on its route from being a former Soviet republic part-occupied by Russian "peacekeepers" towards a European future.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Summit host President Maia Sandu wants -- as do Ukraine and Georgia -- to begin formal EU membership negotiations this year, to "save our democracy" from Russian interference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She received powerful backing on the eve of the summit from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who hailed Moldova's "big progress" in EU-requested reforms.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Moldova is at the heart of Europe. Moldova is Europe. And today and tomorrow, the whole of Europe is Moldova," von der Leyen said. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>