Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine “truly trusts” its partners after the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia traveled by train to Kyiv to offer their support.
The meeting between the four leaders in the Ukrainian capital came nearly three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion against Ukraine. The prime ministers said they were representing the European Council in Kyiv.
“They are shelling everywhere,” Zelensky told the three EU leaders, according to a clip of the meeting posted on social media. “Not only Kyiv but also the western areas.”
Zelensky thanked the Polish, Czech, and Slovenian prime ministers, Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala, and Janez Janša, for their visit, which he called a “powerful testimony of support.”
“So many other ambassadors have left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion,” he said.
“Most important is that we truly trust these leaders. When we are talking about the security guarantees, about our future in the European Union, or when we talk about the sanctions policy, we are 100 percent assured that whatever we are discussing, whatever we talk about, this will reach a positive outcome for our country,” the Ukrainian president said.
With “friends like this” Ukraine “can win,” he added.
Fiala told reporters that the main goal of the Kyiv visit was to tell Ukraine it is “not alone” in the ongoing conflict with Russia.
“The main goal of our visit and the main message of our mission is to say to our Ukrainian friends that they are not alone, that Europe stands with you,” Fiala said during a press conference shortly after the meeting.
The Czech Republic is “hosting your wives and children” and offering them “refuge,” he said.
Some 250,000 Ukrainians have fled to the country since Feb. 24, when the invasion began. Meanwhile, the latest United Nations figures show that nearly 2.7 million Ukrainians have fled since the invasion began, with about 1.7 million of them entering Poland.
“It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here, that freedom fights against the world of tyranny,” the Polish prime minister wrote on Twitter. “It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance. EU supports Ukraine, which can count on the help of its friends—we brought this message to Kyiv today.”
Janša said on Twitter that Europe “must guarantee Ukraine’s independence and ensure that it is ready to help in Ukraine’s reconstruction.”
Zelensky is expected to deliver a rare wartime speech to both chambers of Congress on Wednesday morning via video link.
