A diplomatic source revealed that the Portuguese ambassador to Kyiv, António Alves Machado, will also participate in this meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence, which will precede the signing of the bilateral security agreement, as part of the national delegation.

After the joint press conference of the Portuguese Prime Minister and the Ukrainian Head of State, there will be a brief meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian community established in Portugal, as well as GNR military personnel who participated in the European Union Advisory Mission on Civilian Security Sector Reform in Ukraine (EUAM) and military personnel who participated in the European Union's military assistance mission to Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Lisbon at 14:50, coming from Brussels, where he signed a bilateral security agreement in which Belgium is expected to provide Ukraine with 30 F-16 fighter jets by 2028. At Figo Maduro military airport, he was received by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.

During the meeting with the Portuguese Prime Minister, in São Bento, a ten-year bilateral cooperation agreement will be signed. On Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, said that this bilateral agreement covers all areas of cooperation between the two countries in the last two years: "humanitarian, financial, military and political assistance".

"It gathers all the dimensions in which we have worked, but in a systematised way and with a ten-year horizon", he added.

The bilateral agreement began to be planned after the last summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in July last year, in Vilnius (Lithuania), still with the previous Government, and includes all Portuguese intervention with the Ukrainian authorities since the beginning of the Russian invasion, on 24 February 2022.

In Lisbon, after the meeting and the joint press conference with Luís Montenegro, Volodymyr Zelensky will go to the Belém Palace for a meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

According to a note released on Monday by the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic and the Prime Minister's office, the "working visit" of the Ukrainian Head of State aims to "deepen the excellent relations between the two states, with a particular focus on strengthening cooperation in the area of security and defence".

According to the same note released by the Belém Palace and São Bento, this visit by Zelensky "will also be an opportunity to reiterate Portugal's commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as to maintaining political, military, financial and humanitarian support for Kyiv".

In August last year, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made a two-day visit to Ukraine, at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the country's independence.

During that visit, the Portuguese Head of State visited Kyiv, Bucha, Moshchun, Irpin and Horenka, as a sign of support for the Ukrainians in the war in defence against the invasion by the Russian Federation that began in February 2022.

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