The visit comes when the US warns of intelligence about the great and impending Air Force attack on Ukraine.
Kiel Starmer, Emmanuel Macron’s Friedrich Merz arrived in Kiev on the same train Saturday morning, while Donald Tass traveled on another train. The four leaders met before they left in the Polish city of Rzeszow on Friday night. On Saturday, they will meet Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelenkie on a show of support in Ukraine, Downing Street said in a statement issued late Friday.
“The French leaders, German and British leaders of Poland will stand in Kiev in solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s wild and illegal full-scale invasion,” the four leaders said in a joint statement.
“Kyiv. There’s an important day ahead of us,” Tusk posted to X after arriving at the platform at Kyiv’s central railway station.
Four European leaders repeat their calls for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the conflict during their visit. This is what Donald Trump and the US administration say is the first step on the path to a sustainable peace agreement. Ukraine said it was ready to implement it, but Russia has refused to do so.
Instead, Moscow unilaterally declared a three-day ceasefire starting on May 8th. It said it was designed to avoid Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia at the 80-year celebration of the Soviet victory in World War II in Moscow on Friday. The battle continued along the frontline during the ceasefire, both sides said, but Russia is largely refraining from attacking drones and missiles against Ukraine.
However, as leaders were already on their way to Ukraine, the US embassy in Kiev issued a public warning late Friday night that it had received intelligence from “a potentially significant air attack that could occur anytime in the coming days.” It gave no further details.
Four European leaders visited Maidan in Kiev on Saturday morning with Zelensky and his wife. Thousands of flags are planted in the central square to remember those killed in the war with Russia. The leaders were respectful and had moments of silence before talking to Zelensky. Downing Street then said five will be shining at the virtual meeting to update other leaders on the progress of the so-called “air, land, maritime and regeneration forces,” which are planned to become part of the peace agreement.
“We are ready to support peace negotiations as soon as possible, discuss technical implementation of the ceasefire, and prepare for a full peace agreement,” the statement said.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine. We will put pressure on Russian war machines until Russia agrees to a permanent ceasefire.”
This is Macron’s first visit to Kiev since the summer of 2022, and his first visit as Mertz’s Prime Minister, who was only in office this week.
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