KYIV: Three European prime ministers were travelling to Kyiv on Tuesday, the first foreign leaders to visit the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its invasion in a striking symbol of Ukraine’s success so far in fending off Russia’s assault.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki announced plans for the visit, saying they and Slovenia’s Janez Jansa would meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy’s office confirmed the plans.
“The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” Fiala said, adding the three leaders would present a broad support package for Ukraine.
Morawiecki’s aide, Michal Dwoczyk, told reporters the delegation had crossed the Polish-Ukraine border and was heading to Kyiv by train, in what the Polish leader said was a historic mission.
“It is our duty to be where history is forged. Because it’s not about us, but about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny,” Morawiecki said.
The three leaders will arrive in a city that is still under bombardment, where around half of the 3.4 million population has fled and many are spending nights sheltering in underground stations. Two powerful explosions rocked the capital before dawn on Tuesday, and emergency services said two people died when an apartment building was struck.
Nearly three weeks into a war which Western countries say Moscow believed it would win within days, Europe’s biggest invasion force since World War Two has been halted at the gates of Kyiv, with major road and train routes from the capital still open. Huge armoured columns of Russian forces have failed to capture any of Ukraine’s 10 biggest cities, despite bombardment that has reduced some residential areas to rubble.
Hosting foreign dignitaries in his own capital would be a remarkable symbolic success for Zelenskiy, who rejected offers to evacuate early in the war, staying under bombardment to rally his nation with nightly messages from inside the city.
In his most confident public statement yet, Zelenskiy called on Russian forces to surrender, saying they and their officers already knew that the war was hopeless.
“Russian conscripts! Listen to me very carefully. Russian officers! Youíve already understood everything: You will not take anything from Ukraine. You will take lives. There are a lot of you. But your life will also be taken. But why should you die? What for? I know that you want to survive,î he said.