From the left, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are traveling on a train bound for Kyiv after leaving Poland on 16 June.
The leaders of the three largest countries in the European Union – France, Germany and Italy – arrived in Kyiv on Thursday morning on a high-profile trip designed to ease tensions over what Ukrainian officials perceive as lukewarm support in their fight against Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi traveled together to the city on a special train, leaving Poland at midnight.
As if to remind them that they were visiting a country terrified by an unprovoked assault, the sirens of the airstrikes sounded shortly after the three leaders arrived at their hotel in central Kyiv.
Although all three countries have promised weapons to help Ukraine’s defense against Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made no secret of the fact that he believes they are not doing enough.
He has been particularly critical of Scholz and Macron, suggesting that the two leaders were trying to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“[Scholz] and his government should choose not to do a balancing act between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but to choose what its priority is, “Zelensky told German ZDF earlier this week.
Zelensky has also had harsh words for Macron. The French president has tried to present himself as an ally of Ukraine and as an honest broker with Russia.
Macron, in an interview earlier this month, said that “we must not humiliate Russia so that on the day the fighting ends we can build an exit ramp by diplomatic means. I am convinced that France’s role is to be a mediating power “.
Zelensky told the Financial Times that “to be a leader, you don’t have to consider yourself, you have to behave like a leader.”
Speaking to reporters at the Kyiv train station, Macron said the leaders would visit a “war site where the massacres were committed” and talk to Zelensky.
Asked if he had a message for Ukrainians, he said: “A message of European unity addressed to Ukrainians and women, in support of talking about both the present and the future because the next few weeks, as we know, will be very difficult weeks. I want to be by his side and by his side “.