The prime ministers of three Eastern European countries – Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia – went to the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Tuesday (15), as the city suffers bombing and is surrounded by Russian forces, to show support for Ukraine. . They are the first foreign leaders to visit the city since Russia invaded the country on February 24.
The politicians crossed the Ukraine-Poland border at around 8 am and are heading to the capital by train, where they will speak on behalf of the European Union to present an aid package to the country, said Michal Dworczyk, top adviser to the Polish prime minister.
The trip comes as Kiev is under attack: two powerful explosions rocked the city before dawn on Tuesday. Emergency services said two people died when a residential building was hit. On Monday, another attack destroyed a building and left one person dead.
In May of the bombings, the city announced a 35-hour curfew, from 8 pm on Tuesday (3 pm in BrasÃlia) until 7 am on Thursday (2 am in BrasÃlia), where it will be prohibited to move around the city without special permission, except for to go to bomb shelters. “The capital is the heart of Ukraine and will be defended,” said Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Facebook that the trip comes on the 20th day of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “criminal aggression against Ukraine”. “In such revolutionary times for the world, it is our duty to be where history is forged. Because it is not about us, but about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny,” he said.
“The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a statement released by the Polish government.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa also took part in the trip, which Fiala said was made in consultation with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The idea for the visit was agreed at a summit of European Union leaders in Versailles, France, last week, Dworczyk said.
The Czech Republic and Poland, former communist republics that are now part of the European Union and NATO, have been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters in Europe since the Russian invasion.
On Tuesday, air raid sirens sounded in different regions of the country, including Odessa, Chernihiv, Cherkassi and Smila.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced that the country hopes to open nine corridors to evacuate civilians and that it will try to deliver supplies and aid to the southern port city of Mariupol.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of Mariupol, which is under constant bombardment, have been sheltering in basements and crumbling buildings without water or power for more than a week. On Monday (14), Moscow allowed the first convoy with civilians to leave the city. In the first two hours, 160 cars left, according to the city hall.
Local officials estimate between 2,300 and 20,000 civilians were killed in Russian bombings in Mariupol — a figure that cannot be independently confirmed so far.
The death toll in Monday’s air strike on a TV tower in the Rivne region of northern Ukraine has risen to at least 19, Governor Vitali Koval said. According to him, two missiles hit the tower in Antopil, 15 kilometers from Rivne. The city is on the way between the capital Kiev and Lviv, close to the Polish border, where another bombing left dozens dead on Sunday.
Further talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are expected this Tuesday after Monday’s videoconference discussions ended with no further progress.
The United Nations says that more than 2.8 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war.
