The Leaders of Germany Olaf Scholz, of France, Emmanuel Macron, and of Italy, Mario Draghi, traveled to Ukraine on Thursday to show European support for Kyiv, a week before the European Union decides whether the country can be an official candidate. to joining the bloc.
For the three officials, who arrived in Kyiv on a special train, it is the first visit to the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
At Kyiv’s central station, before heading to the hotel, Macron told reporters that he was coming to Ukraine to give “a message about European unity” and to show “support” for Kyiv.
In the morning, the three European leaders were going to visit Irpin, a city 8 km from Kiyv, “where massacres were perpetrated” during the Russian occupation in March before meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky.
The German chancellor assured for his part that “not only do we want to express our solidarity, we also want to make sure that the help we organize: financial, humanitarian, but also when it comes to weapons, will continue,” the official said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild. this Thursday.
“We will continue as long as necessary to fight for the independence of Ukraine,” he added.
In their meeting with Zelensky, they will discuss military assistance and Kyiv’s request to join the EU, backed by Berlin, Paris and Rome but in a more distant perspective.
The Twenty-seven hold a summit on June 23 and 24 in which they should decide whether to accept Ukraine as an official candidate for accession, the beginning of a process that could last years.
US aid
The visit comes at a delicate moment on the military plane, with Russian troops tightening the siege in the eastern Donbas region while the Ukrainian authorities multiply their orders for Western weapons.
On Wednesday, the United States announced a new $1 billion military aid package that will include artillery, anti-ship defense systems, ammunition and advanced missile systems.
“I am grateful for this support, it is especially important for our defense in Donbas,” Zelensky said after a conversation with his US counterpart, Joe Biden.
In addition, the North American power called on its allies to speed up military support for Ukraine, which “is facing a crucial moment on the battlefield,” said its Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Along the same lines, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for “intensifying” deliveries, although he acknowledged that the weapons requested by Kyiv require “training, conservation and maintenance.”
Russia for its part tries to intercept the deliveries and periodically announces that it has destroyed NATO-supplied shipments.
The future of the conflict is now passing through Donbas, the mining basin in eastern Ukraine formed by the Lugansk and Donetsk regions partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
After abandoning the capture of Kyiv in March, Moscow wants to conquer this entire area and concentrates its fire on the neighboring cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last great redoubt under Ukrainian control in Lugansk.
Severodonetsk, “strategic element”
“For almost four months, (the Russians) have dreamed of controlling Severodonetsk where, out of 100,000 inhabitants, about 10,000 remain, not counting the victims,” Sergei Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region, said on Thursday in the Telegram message.
According to him, “the Russian army loses hundreds of fighters, but finds reserves and continues to destroy Severodonetsk.” But “our military maintains the defense,” he said.
The Ukrainian authorities recognized in recent days that their troops had been repelled from the center of Severodonetsk and only had “difficult communication routes” after the destruction of all the bridges that connect with Lysychansk, on the other bank of the Donets River.
“Severodonetsk is a strategic element in our defense system of the Lugansk region. The city cannot be considered otherwise,” the Ukrainian army acknowledged on Wednesday.
Part of its troops in the city have barricaded themselves in the Azot chemical factory, which also has some 500 civilian refugees inside, according to the mayor of Severodonetsk, Oleksander Striuk.
Russia on Tuesday proposed a “humanitarian corridor” to evacuate civilians to territories controlled by its troops, but on Wednesday accused Kyiv of preventing it. The Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the matter.
Isolated by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who expressed “mutual support” of both countries on issues of “sovereignty, security and other issues of interest.”
For its part, the UN once again recalled the danger of a world food crisis due to the war and pointed out that the record number of 100 million displaced people in the world may increase if the issue is not resolved.
