Bombs fall as leaders arrive for Kyiv visit

PRAGUE/WARSAW • As Russian airstrikes hit targets in Kyiv on Tuesday, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia arrived in the capital in a show of high-level backing for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The three, who travelled by train, were the first foreign leaders to visit the capital since Russia invaded last month.

“Your visit to Kyiv at this difficult time for Ukraine is a strong sign of support. We really appreciate it,” Zelenskyy said in an online post.

Brief footage released by his office showed him speaking in Ukrainian and English to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech counterpart Petr Fiala and Slovenia's Janez Jansa.

Also in attendance was Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the country's ruling PIS party, who is seen as the main decision-maker in the country.

Russian airstrikes and shelling hit Kyiv on Tuesday, killing at least five people, authorities said, as invading forces tightened their grip and the mayor announced a 35-hour curfew.

“It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here that freedom fights against the world of tyranny. It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance,” Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.

The Czech Republic and Poland, former communist members of both the EU and NATO, have been among Europe's strongest backers of Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal hailed what he said was the “courage of true friends” and said the leaders would discuss support for Ukraine and further sanctions.

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Europe for an extraordinary NATO summit on Ukraine next week as the refugee tally from the invasion hit three million.