Zelensky Heads to Berlin and Paris to Shore Up Support as U.S. Wavers

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is making a whirlwind trip through Berlin and Paris on Friday in a bid to shore up European backing at a critical moment for his country’s fight against Russia, with United States support wavering and Ukraine desperately in need of more arms.

Mr. Zelensky is expected to sign security agreements with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France during his visits to the two leaders’ capitals, before an expected appearance at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

European leaders have been scrambling to offer more support to Ukraine amid growing concerns that a $60 billion United States aid package, which passed the Senate, may yet be scuppered by Republicans in the House.

The security agreements are among a string of such commitments pledged by all Group of 7 members and several other countries to Ukraine at a meeting of NATO allies in Vilnius, Lithuania, last year, a move seen as an attempt to compensate for their reluctance to bring Kyiv quickly into the alliance.

The agreements are meant to provide Ukraine with sufficient security assistance to deter further Russian aggression — including deliveries of key weapons, training of troops and intelligence sharing — and to strengthen Ukraine’s financial stability and help it carry out political and economic overhauls.

Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister, said the security agreements pledged by G-7 members were the best his country had achieved since gaining independence in 1991. But he noted that they do not commit allies to fight on behalf of Ukraine, and instead pledge only to help Ukraine in the event of future aggression.