Kyiv - The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the highest-profile visit to Ukraine’s capital since the Russian invasion; Ukraine said it urgently needed more weapons to fend off Russian advances in the south and the east.
The French President’s office said, President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi had travelled by night train to Kyiv, and that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will join them there.
Russia has focused most of its firepower on the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk while also trying to consolidate control over southern territory encompassing the strategic city of Kherson, north of the Black Sea. Ukrainian soldiers are fighting to retake ground in wheat fields and empty villages along a deserted motorway between the city of Mykolaiv and Russian-occupied Kherson.
“It is an important moment; it is a message of European unity toward Ukrainians.” Macron said as he is due to visit sites where the attacks occurred.
He will also speak with Ukrainian officials about “both the present and the future.”
Macron is deeply involved in diplomatic efforts to push for a cease-fire in Ukraine that would allow future peace negotiations. He has frequent discussions with Zelenskyy and has spoken on the phone several times with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Putin launched the invasion in late February.
Scholz had long resisted traveling to Kyiv, saying he didn’t want to “join the queue of people who do a quick in-out for a photo opportunity.” Instead, Scholz said a trip should focus on doing “concrete things.”
The European leaders, the three largest economies in EU, are to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The visit carries heavy symbolic weight given that the three Western European powers have often faced criticism for not providing Ukraine with the scale of weapons that Zelenskyy has been begging them for, and for their willingness to keep speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin — something Baltic and Central European leaders have found unacceptable.
Hopes were high among Ukrainians that the visit could mark a turning point by opening the way to significant new arms supplies.
The visit comes as EU leaders prepare to make a decision June 23-24 on Ukraine’s request to become a candidate for EU membership, and ahead of an important NATO summit June 29-30 in Madrid.
Also Thursday, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to weigh more military aid for Ukraine. On Wednesday, the U.S. and Germany announced more aid, as America and its allies provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.
-AP/Reuters