Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, representing the EU’s three largest economies, arrived in Ukraine on Thursday.
According to Macron, the trio traveled to the country to broadcast “a message of European unity to Ukrainians” in the middle of Russia’s war of aggression against the Eastern European country.
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In addition to the three European heads of state and government, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also traveled to Ukraine. The four met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
‘[Esta viagem] It is a message of European unity to Ukrainians, of support to talk about the present and the future, because we know that the next few weeks will be very difficult,” Macron said in a brief statement.
German Olaf Scholz, on the other hand, said shortly before arriving in Kyiv that the purpose of the trip was to ensure solidarity and continuity of support for Ukraine.
“Not only do we want to show solidarity, we also want to make sure that the aid we organize financial, humanitarian, but also arms continues. And that we will continue them for as long as is necessary for the struggle for Ukraine’s independence,” said Scholz.
However, members of the Ukrainian government have publicly expressed fears that the three leaders could use the visit to pressure the Ukrainian government to accept a peace deal favorable to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin regime to put an end to conflict. Germany and France have turbulent relations with Kyiv, and members of the Ukrainian government have regularly criticized what they call “reluctance” by these two countries to provide more arms to Ukraine.
Macron recently said it is vital that the West does not “humiliate” Putin. Currently, Russia occupies 20% of Ukraine’s territory. Macron and Scholz were also recently criticized by Ukrainian ally Poland for the frequent contacts that the leaders of Germany and France have with Putin.
2 of 2 European leaders gather at Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv. — Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS
European leaders gather at the Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv. — Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Macron, Scholz and Draghi traveled together on a special train departing from an unidentified station in Poland from Wednesday to Thursday.
The leaders arrived in different cars but held a twohour meeting to discuss their meeting with Zelenskyy. The three had their picture taken during these talks.
The Italian press highlighted the strict security measures that ensured the passage of the train, like the program organized in Kyiv, which will count on 300 members of the Ukrainian army.
The three leaders were greeted with air raid sirens in the Ukrainian capital as Russia continues to strike targets across the country. Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday that a Russian missile fired overnight hit a northern Ukrainian suburb of Sumy, killing four and injuring six.
Shortly after arriving in Ukraine, the three leaders were photographed visiting Irpin, a town a few kilometers from Kyiv that was the scene of fierce fighting in the first weeks of the Russian invasion.
There, Scholz said Irpin had become a symbol of the “cruelty” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its violence. “Irpin, like Bucha, has become a symbol of the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian war, of senseless violence,” Scholz said, referring to Bucha, a Ukrainian city that has been the scene of massacres blamed on invading Russian forces. “The brutal destruction of this city is a warning: this war must end,” added Scholz.
Macron, on the other hand, denounced the “barbarism” that was taking place in the city. “It is a heroic city, scarred by the stigmata of barbarism,” the French president told reporters.
The trio’s visit comes at a sensitive time as Ukraine amplifies its complaints about the West’s slow delivery of arms. Scholz was the main target of complaints from Kyiv. It is common for Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, to complain about German hesitation and denounce that the weapons promised by Berlin are not being delivered. Relations between Berlin and Kyiv hit rock bottom in April after Kyiv refused a visit from German President FrankWalter Steinmeier.
The first joint visit of the leaders also comes a week before the EU summit, where European leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine’s desire to join the 27nation bloc. Ukraine does not hide that it expects a very strong symbolic gesture at this meeting, such as a declaration of support for the country’s EU candidacy.
However, Kyiv’s efforts are viewed with reservations by several countries in the bloc. The French government, for example, insisted that “a balance must be struck between Ukraine’s aspirations” and those of other countries already negotiating to join the EU without “destabilizing or fracturing the EU”. Macron also said that Ukraine’s accession “could take decades”.