Polish, Czech, Slovenian PMs to visit Kyiv Tuesday in show of ‘unequivocal support’
Leaders of 3 NATO countries will meet Ukraine President Zelensky and PM Shmyhal on solidarity trip as ‘representatives of the European Council,’ as Russia continues to pound city
The Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers were traveling to Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support, the Polish government said in a statement.
The three will be visiting as “representatives of the European Council,” the statement said.
Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic are all also members of NATO.
The trip was organized “in agreement with” European Council chief Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the statement added.
The visit comes amid deadly Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, which has nearly been encircled by Moscow troops, and as Russia and Ukraine are due to resume talks to end the nearly three-week war.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech counterpart Petr Fiala and Slovenia’s Janez Jansa will also meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal during the visit.
“The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society,” the statement said.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators planned to hold a second day of talks as Russia’s offensive in Ukraine entered its 21st day.
The latest negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, held by video Monday, were the fourth round involving higher-level officials from the two countries and the first in a week. The talks ended without a breakthrough after several hours, with an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the negotiators took “a technical pause” and planned to meet again Tuesday.
The two sides had expressed some optimism in the past few days. Mykhailo Podolyak, the aide to Zelensky, tweeted that the negotiators would discuss “peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees.”
Previous discussions, held in person in Belarus, produced no lasting humanitarian routes or agreements to end the fighting.
When Russia launched the war nearly three weeks ago, fear of an imminent invasion gripped the Ukrainian capital, as residents slept night after night in subway stations or crammed onto trains to flee. But as the Russian offensive bogged down, Kyiv saw a relative lull. Fighting has intensified on the outskirts in recent days, and sporadic air raid sirens ring out around the capital.
Shortly before dawn Tuesday, large explosions thundered across Kyiv from what Ukrainian authorities said was artillery strikes. The shelling ignited a huge fire and a frantic rescue effort in a 15-story apartment building. At least one person was killed and others were trapped inside.
Shockwaves from an explosion also damaged the entry to a downtown subway station that has been used as a bomb shelter. City authorities tweeted an image of the blown-out facade, saying trains would no longer stop at the station.
But overall, nearly all of the Russian military offensives remained stalled after making little progress over the weekend, according to a senior US defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment. Russian troops were still about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the center of Kyiv, the official said.
