KYIV: The leaders of France, Germany and Italy visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of European support for Ukraine, as Russia presses its brutal offensive in the east of the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland, according to an AFP reporter travelling with them.
Asked by a journalist why he had come to Ukraine, Macron said: “For a message of European unity.”
Scholz told German daily Bild that they “want to show not only solidarity, but also assure that the help that we’re organising, financial, humanitarian, but also, when it comes to weapons, will continue”.
“And that we will continue it as long as it is necessary for Ukraine’s fight” against Moscow, he said.
It is the first time that the leaders of the three European Union countries have visited Kyiv since Russia’s February 24 invasion.
They are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a time when Kyiv is pushing to be given official candidate status to join the EU.
France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of this month, Germany and Italy view Ukraine’s aspirations to join the bloc favourably.
But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, membership could take years or even decades.
Despite reservations among some member states, EU leaders are expected to approve Ukraine’s candidate status, though with strict conditions attached.
Other leading figures to have visited Ukraine since the start of the war include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Ukraine is also expected to reiterate its pleas for allies to send more weapons, with officials saying only a fraction of what they have asked for has so far been delivered.
