Train diplomacy: EU tries ‘solidarity move’ to reassure war-battered Ukraine
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Having failed to stop Russia from shelling and leveling Ukraine, three European leaders left for Kyiv, the capital of the war-ravaged country, on Thursday morning by train to express solidarity with the victim on the 112th day of the Russian invasion.
In an unusual show of solidarity with Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi boarded a train in Poland for Kyiv, the media reported.
Their move came a day after the United States announced USD 1 billion worth of new arms for embattled Ukrainian forces.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, Kyiv’s troops are resisting a far stronger enemy in a fierce war in the Donbas region, where the Russian troops are trying to seize a swathe of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Speaking during a visit to neighboring Romania on Wednesday, French President Macron said that “we, the European Union, need to send clear political signals to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, who have been resisting heroically for several months.”
In their first visit to Ukraine, the three European Union countries’ top leaders will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when Kyiv is pushing for membership in the EU.
Last month, addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Italian PM had backed Ukraine’s hopes of joining the EU and made the case for the bloc’s enlargement eastwards.
The European Commission has said it will give recommendations on Kyiv’s membership prospects soon. France holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of June.
Other leaders to have visited Ukraine since the start of the war include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden unveiled the new US arms package, featuring howitzers, ammunition, anti-ship missile systems, and additional rockets for new artillery systems that Ukraine will soon deploy in the field.
“The bravery, resilience, and determination of the Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world,” Biden told Zelensky.
At present, the Russians have focused the fighting in eastern Ukraine on the industrial city of Severodonetsk, and the Russians appear close to merging control after weeks of intense battles. They trapped hundreds of civilians in a Severodonetsk chemical plant, which is under constant bombardment, Ukrainian officials said.
In Brussels, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov and other officials met Wednesday with some 50 countries of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters asking for more weapons and ammunition.
Meanwhile, during his second telephonic conversation since February 24 with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that he was not as isolated internationally as his foes would wish.
China has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by criticizing Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.
The United Nations warned a hunger crisis that the war in Ukraine has worsened. Ukraine is traditionally a breadbasket.
