Leaders pledge arms, EU path for Ukraine during visit to Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — Four European leaders expressed their support for Ukraine on Thursday while meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, vowing to back Kyiv’s candidacy to eventually join the European Union and offering more weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion.
French President Emmanuel Macron promised Ukraine six more truck-mounted artillery guns, the latest in a new round of Western arms pledges as the war grinds on in the Donbas region in the east.
France, Germany, Italy and Romania “are doing everything so that Ukraine alone can decide its fate,” Macron said at a news conference with Zelenskyy and the others.
“My colleagues and I have come here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Amid Ukrainian fears that Western resolve could wane, the visit carried heavy symbolism. France, Germany and Italy have all faced criticism for continuing to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and failing to give Kyiv the weaponry it says its needs.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said it was important for him to hear that European leaders “agree the end of the war and peace for Ukraine should be as Ukraine sees them.” He said Ukrainians will continue to fight for all of their land.
Ukrainians and some of their European neighbors have been afraid that Western powers might press for territorial concessions for the sake of peace.
Scholz reiterated that there is no such intent to dictate anything to Ukrainians, and that only they “can decide what is right in terms of an agreement on a peace which we are unfortunately very, very far away from.”
The leaders also visited Irpin, a Kyiv suburb that saw intense fighting and where many civilians were killed. They decried the destruction there, with Macron saying he saw signs of “war crimes.”
While shocking images of such devastation have rallied Western support, Ukrainian officials have expressed concern that “war fatigue” could eventually erode that — particularly as rising prices and upcoming U.S. elections increasingly dominating public concerns.
The U.S. and its European allies have given billions of dollars in weaponry to Ukraine, and Germany and the U.S. recently announced new arms shipments. Such arms have been crucial in preventing the Russians from taking the capital, but Kyiv has said much more will be needed.
“Russia is only looking for new ways to scare Europe and seize more and more of our land,” Zelenskyy said at the news conference. “The goal of Russia in this war is to break Ukraine and through this break the whole of Europe.”
The war has increased pressure on EU governments to fast-track Ukraine’s candidate status, and Thursday’s pledge to support candidacy status for Ukraine and neighboring Moldova pushes the whole 27-nation union closer to doing so. But the process still is expected to take years.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who is now deputy head of the Kremlin Security Council, dismissed the European leaders as “connoisseurs of frogs, liver and pasta” and said their visit brought no benefit.
“Again they promised EU membership and old howitzers, slammed down some vodka and, like 100 years ago, took the train home,“he tweeted. “And that’s all good. It’s just that this doesn’t bring Ukraine any closer to peace. And the clock is ticking.”