President Zelenskyy and allies were meeting in Germany for the final summit on Ukrainian aid before Donald Trump takes office. Trump has been critical of the US role in the conflict.

Western allies were set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Ramstein air base in southwestern Germany on Thursday.

“The key priority is to continue strengthening our air defense systems and to ensure we can at least push Russian military aviation away from our cities and borders,” Zelenskyy wrote on X ahead of the gathering.

The meeting will be the last such summit before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20. Thus, it was seen as an important push to secure aid for Kyiv as Trump has indicated that he may not be as sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause as President Joe Biden.

Allies scramble to arrange aid before Trump inauguration

Biden’s secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, is expected to announce a massive new aid package. Under Biden, the US has been Ukraine’s biggest financial backer, sending funds and equipment totaling $65 billion.

Trump has promised to end Russia’s war in Ukraine swiftly but has not presented any concrete policy proposals for doing so.

“It’s real important for the entire coalition to continue to provide military aid. Now, the US has led this effort, and hopefully… will continue to do so, because it’s not over,” Austin said upon arrival at Ramstein.

Russia and Ukraine have been trading increasingly intense drone strikes ahead of Trump’s inauguration as they both seek to shore up their military position ahead of a potential change in US policy.

On Thursday, Russia was still battling a blaze started by a Ukrainian strike a day earlier that targeted an oil depot used by the country’s airforce in the Saratov region. At the same time, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down 46 Russian drones overnight.