Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) President of France Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi made a joint visit to Kiev on Thursday.
They visited Ukraine to show solidarity as the country defends from Russian aggression, according to Reuters reporting.
Speaking in Kiev, Macron pointed out that the three heads of EU member states decided to visit Ukraine to show unity.
The French President’s Office pointed out that the three leaders decided to make the visit before the coming EU summit where Ukraine’s bid to join the EU will be discussed.
“A balance has to be found between Ukraine’s natural aspirations to [join] the EU at a very special time, and attention to all the countries which already have candidate status and are stuck in the negotiation chapters and the fact that we must not destabilise the EU or fracture it,” the office concluded.
EC supports candidate status
The European Commission is preparing to recommend Ukraine for a candidate status later this week, which is not a popular move among the largest bloc members.
On Wednesday, Macron called for reassuring Ukraine about its ambition to join the EU.
“We are at a point when we need to send clear political signals, us Europeans, towards Ukraine and its people when it is resisting heroically,” he stressed.
Ukrainian officials have previously accused France and Germany of being reluctant in their support, stressing that they took a lot of time to deliver arms and focused more on their prosperity than Ukraine’s freedom.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych noted in an interview earlier this week that he is concerned the three European leaders will pressure Ukraine to accept a peace agreement favourable to Russia.
“They will say that we need to end the war that is causing food problems and economic problems,” he predicted and reminded that Macron stressed the importance of not humiliating Russia.
Speaking on Tuesday, Draghi stressed the importance of starting peace negotiations as soon as possible “on terms that Ukraine deems acceptable.”
Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk noted in an interview with NTV that he expects Germany to provide Kiev with heavy weapons that it promised.
