by Francesca Basso
The President of the EU Commission: “Appalled by the attack on Kramatorsk”. He met Zelenskyy with the High Representative for Foreign Policy in the Ukrainian capital
FROM OUR MAIL
Kyiv «We want to bring our strong support to the Ukrainians and give them hope». EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks to a small group of journalists, including Corriere del Sera, during the long, 12.5hour drive to arrive in Kyiv. In the same hours, a rocket hit the Kramatorsk railway station in the east of the country, which was used to evacuate civilians. He is traveling with EU High Representative Josep Borrell: “Our message adds the senior Spanish diplomat is that Ukraine is in control of its territory, of its infrastructures, you can travel.
Federal President von der Leyen will meet the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “I have been in constant contact with him since the beginning of the war. We are on the 44th day of the war». Von der Leyen tweeted about the attack on the Kramatorsk train station: “It’s despicable. I am appalled at the loss of life and will personally express my condolences to President Zelenskyy ».
During his visit, von der Leyen brings with him a very important document: the “Questionnaire” that Ukraine is supposed to answer and that will be used by the European Commission to prepare its opinion on the application for membership of the Union. “Normally it takes years for the Council to agree to submit an application for membership, but this time it did so for Ukraine in a few weeks and I ask that it proceed as soon as possible. Our goal is to submit the application for admission to the Council this summer.”
The country “needs urgent help,” von der Leyen continued, pointing out that “Ukrainians are part of the European family.” The opinion of the executive of the community forms the basis for the decision of the council. Investment and reforms are needed. “Ukraine must emerge from the war as a democratic country. Together with other international donors, we are ready to rebuild and reform the country. Now everything is worrying, but there are also enormous opportunities because the country will start from scratch ».
Von der Leyen will address two other issues relevant to President Zelenskyy: the supply of more arms and the huge financial support that Ukraine desperately needs. Borrell arrives and announces that member states are about to decide on a new €500 million tranche for arms supplies, on top of the billions already allocated under the European Peace Facility. And he will also announce that “the EU will allocate 7.5 million to fund Ukraine’s international war crimes investigation, collect evidence and train staff. In addition, today, with the return of the ambassador, we are reopening the EU delegation in Kyiv to show that Ukraine exists and has a capital, it will be a reduced team for security reasons ».
The first stop of the visit is Bucha, where the retreating Russian troops carried out a massacre, the images of which shocked the West. Under Bucha’s rain, von der Leyen’s blue eyes seem gray, in his eyes the horror of what he knows and what they tell her happened: “The unthinkable happened here. In Bucha we saw humanity destroyed ». Accompanied by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, von der Leyen and Borrell saw the black bags containing the exhumed bodies for the war crimes investigation opened by Kyiv, in which the EU is also involved, and attended a brief ceremony at the church next door, where they lit a candle for the victims. Then they moved to Station Street, where the carcasses of the burned caterpillars still block the road. Von der Leyen and Borrell listen to the stories. And they make promises. “They fight for our values,” repeated von del Leyen.
The Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Hegel also arrived in Kyiv a few days after the start of the war after visiting the Polish, Slovenian and Czech premieres. A week ago it was instead the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who came to Kyiv to bring political support to the Euro Chamber.
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April 8, 2022 (Modification April 8, 2022 | 5:00 p.m.)
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