A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada yesterday visited Ukraine’s capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion in a show of support for Kyiv by some of its most important backers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the visitors greeted at the railway station by Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and the president’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak.
Von der Leyen wrote on social media that Europe was in Kyiv “because Ukraine is in Europe.”
Photo: AFP
“In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny,” she wrote.
The guests, also including European Council President Antonio Costa as well as the prime ministers of northern European nations and Spain, were set to attend events dedicated to the anniversary and discuss supporting the nation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid a policy shift by Washington under US President Donald Trump.
In the latest sign of Europe’s efforts to rework its strategy on Ukraine to respond to Trump’s actions, Costa on Sunday announced that he would convene an emergency summit of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels on March 6, with Ukraine at the top of the agenda.
Photo: Reuters
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” Costa wrote on social media.
The three-year mark of the war in Ukraine came at a sensitive moment for Kyiv as Zelenskiy navigates a rapidly changing international environment upended by Trump’s changes to the US approach to the war.
Trump has sought to follow through on his campaign promises to end the war quickly, although his methods for doing so have alarmed many in Ukraine and Europe, who believe that his approach is too conciliatory toward Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said that preparations for a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin were underway, and US officials have said that they had agreed with Moscow to re-establish diplomatic ties and restart economic cooperation.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov on Sunday told TASS news agency that Moscow and Washington would continue bilateral talks at the end of next week, adding that “quite a lot” of contact was ongoing.
Leaders across the EU, fearing both that Trump’s approach to Ukraine would lead to an unfavorable settlement for Kyiv and that they — among Ukraine’s most important supporters — would be sidelined in negotiations for peace, have rushed to assert their own response to the rapidly shifting environment.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas yesterday said that the US cannot seal any peace deal to end the war without Ukraine or Europe being involved.
She highlighted what she claimed were pro-Russian positions being taken up by the Trump administration.
“You can discuss whatever you want with Putin, but if it comes to Europe or Ukraine, then Ukraine and Europe also have to agree to this deal,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels, where she was chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Kallas travels to Washington today for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Asked whether the US administration is acting in the interests of Russia or Ukraine’s Western backers, she said: “If you look at the messages that come from the United States, then it’s clear that the Russian narrative is there very strongly represented.”
Kallas rejected Trump’s earlier assertion that Zelenskiy was a dictator for not having held elections after his term expired last year, saying: “Russia hasn’t had elections in 25 years.”
Ukrainian law prohibits elections being held while martial law is in place, and Zelenksiy on Sunday said that after martial law is lifted “there will be elections and people will make their choice.”
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS