While the Ukrainian capital has been the scene of several bombings in recent days, the heads of government are traveling as representatives of the EU to notably present “a vast package of support measures” to the country.
A visit to affirm a “unequivocal support”. The Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers are in Kyiv on Tuesday to represent the European Union. Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa “are traveling to Kyiv as representatives of the European Council, to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmygal”, specifies the official text. According to the Polish non-stop news channel Polsat News, the delegation arrived shortly after 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning in the Ukrainian capital and traveled by train.
The purpose of this trip, specified by a press release published on the Polish government website: “Reaffirm the unequivocal support of the whole of the European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a comprehensive package of support measures for the state and thea Ukrainian society.” All in agreement with the Presidents of the European Commission and Council Ursula Von der Leyen and Charles Michel, says Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. According to the head of the cabinet of the Polish Prime Minister, Michal Dworczyk, the decision “in principle” concerning this displacement of three heads of government had been taken at the European summit in Versailles last Friday. Of course, international organizations, and in particular the United Nations, have also been warned.
Asked about the number of European leaders in the delegation, the Polish official confined himself to explaining, according to the PAP agency, that it was the “individual decision” of each and that the Heads of State or Government were not “not all ready to participate”. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, also leader of Poland’s ruling populist-nationalist party, is also part of the delegation, Dworczyk said.
On Facebook, the head of the Polish government warns: “Today Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after tomorrow the Baltic States, and then maybe after that it will be my country, Poland.” The phrase refers to a speech by former Polish President Lech Kaczyński who, in 2008, delivered the same phrase from the Georgian capital Tbilisi as the Russian army attempted to invade the country. “His visit had then changed the perception of this war, […] it is still remembered today around the world,” assures the head of the Polish government on the social network.
The visit of the three heads of government comes as bombings hit several buildings in Kyiv in the morning, killing at least two, as the Russian army amplifies its offensive in Ukraine before the resumption of talks which maintain a timid glow of hope. The Ukrainian capital is to this day almost completely surrounded. More than half of its three million inhabitants have fled. The city is fine “under siege”according to an adviser to the Ukrainian president.
Update at 1:55 p.m. with some additional context.