French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian prime minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv Thursday morning, visiting the Ukrainian capital for the first time since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in a historic joint trip, reports Politico.
The three leaders took a night train to Kyiv, where they were greeted with air raid sirens amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. They crossed into Ukraine from the Polish border, La Repubblica reported early Thursday, although their precise travel plans were unknown, since Paris, Berlin and Rome did not give official details on the highly anticipated trip.
“We’re here, focused, and we’re about to meet President Zelenskyy now to visit a war site where massacres have been committed, and then to lead the conversations that are scheduled with President Zelenskyy,” Macron said in comments to reporters at the train station in Kyiv.
The visit is “a message of European unity toward Ukrainians, and of support, [a message] about the present and the future because we know the weeks to come are going to be very difficult,” the French president added.
The European leaders will visit Irpin, the suburb northwest of Kyiv where Russian invaders destroyed buildings and allegedly tortured and killed civilians during weeks of occupation before Ukrainian forces pushed them out.