The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen The highest representative of community diplomacy Josep BorrellThey have landed at Kiev (Ukraine), on a trip with strong symbolic content, and possibly the most difficult and sensitive of all their political careers. This was the first time senior community officials visited Bucha after hearing about the massacre of civilians. Just after the morning Russian missiles struck Kramatorsk station. There, some 4,000 people, mostly women and elderly children, waited for a train to allow them escape the horror.
The trip took place under strict security, with no media information being provided about Von der Leyen or Borrell’s steps in the country. This was due to possible terrorist attacks. His journey was filled with many surprises.Borrell and Von der Leyen were photographed with bulletproof vests while they traveled to Bucha.Many bodies of dead people are still trapped in black bags that need to be identified Volodymyr Zelensky is the scheduled host for the meeting between the two leaders, but details about the exact time and location are being kept secret.
The timing of this trip is crucial for community diplomacy as the differences between the 27 countries on the new sanctions against Russia, which include the oil-and-gas embargo, are more evident than ever. Recent days have seen the reluctance to include Russia in new sanctions against Germany and other countries whose economies are heavily dependent on Russian hydrocarbons has been joined by strong opposition from Viktor Orban, the Hungarian President. He refuses to include these raw material in the latest rounds of sanctions, but is also willing to pay in rubles as Russia demands, even though it would break the European consensus.
Sources close to the diplomatic community confirm that it is unlikely that a new round of sanctions will be approved this Monday, when a new meeting of The Foreign Council of Twenty-seven takes place. Although there are many differences between European capitals, European diplomats continue to work towards resolving them.
Borrell also took advantage of his trip in kyiv.In addition to the 1,000 millions euros already disbursed, 500 million more weapons will be announced.This is a step that took place a day after Kuleba Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, requested from the Alliance countries that weapons be shipped faster in order to save lives.
Roberta Metsola was the president of European Parliament and the only representative of community leadership to have traveled to Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Roberta Metsola traveled to Kiev last Wednesday. Prior to Metsola’s visit the only European leaders to have visited Ukraine since the start of the war were the Prime Ministers from Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech Republic and Petr Fiala. Janez Jansa was also present, as was Jaroslaw Kaczynski (Polish Deputy Prime Minister), who arrived by train. Eduard Heger, Prime Minister of Slovakia has accompanied Borrell and von der Leyen to today’s visit.
Although leaders from the Eastern countries received the blessings of the community leaders, the surprise of their visit was that the representation of the EU in its entirety corresponds to European positions