Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will conclude today in Brussels the two-day trip that previously saw him in London and Paris. It is only the second time since the beginning of the war that Zelensky has left Ukraine to meet foreign heads of state: the first was an official visit to the United States.
Zelensky met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles III in London on Wednesday, before traveling to Paris for a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Zelensky’s program continued this morning, when he left Paris with Macron for Brussels. Upon landing, he was greeted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.
Zelensky was a guest at a session of the European Parliament in the morning, where he was welcomed by President Roberta Metsola, then he attended the summit of the European Council, where leaders and government officials of all member states were present.
Zelensky saluta con “Slava ucraina”, l’assemblea risponde in ucraino “Herojam slava!” e lui si commuove! Zelensky greets “Ukrainian glory”, the assembly answers in Ukrainian “Glory to the Heroes!” and he is touched! #Zelensky #SlavaUkraïni #StandWithUkraine #RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/cklRqAppu4
— Nunzio Garofalo (@Nunzio_Garofalo) February 9, 2023
Zelensky’s trip had a double purpose, as confirmed by the words of the Ukrainian president during the various meetings: to thank the heads of state and government for the military and economic support received from his country after the invasion suffered by Russia and to reiterate the request for greater support from the point of view of sending weapons. In particular, Zelensky has repeatedly called for fighter jets to be sent to Ukraine.
In the United Kingdom, Zelensky thanked the British authorities for having stood by Ukraine “since day one of the invasion”, but also expressly requested the sending of fighter jets. In the’meeting with the speaker of the parliament English Lindsay Hoyle gave him the helmet used by a Ukrainian military pilot, with the dedication: “We have freedom, give us wings to protect it”. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later said that a decision on sending fighter jets had not yet been taken.
🇬🇧🇺🇦The King welcomes President @ZelenskyyUa to Buckingham Palace. pic.twitter.com/cdcBUFkZIL
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 8, 2023
The United Kingdom and the United States have been the largest suppliers of arms to Ukraine since the beginning of the war, but European countries have allocated aid worth billions of euros and some of them recently approved the sending of 100 tanks towards Kiev .
Zelensky then repeated the requests for weapons at the Paris meeting with Macron and Scholz: «The sooner we obtain heavy long-range weapons, the sooner our pilots will have fighters available, the sooner Russian aggression will end and peace can return to Europe ». French President Macron did not make timely promises, but said that “Ukraine can count on France to win the war”.
Many Italian newspapers have pointed out that the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was not invited to the informal Paris summit with Macron and Scholz, unlike what happened in June 2022 for the meeting in Kiev, when with the French and German the then head of the Italian government Mario Draghi was also present.
Meloni criticized Macron’s initiative, defining it as “inopportune”. Meloni said: “I think our strength in this matter is unity, there are times when giving priority to your own internal public opinion risks going to the detriment of the cause”.
In the afternoon, the Prime Minister met Zelensky in the first of four meetings, defined as “group bilaterals”. For reasons of time, the Ukrainian president met Giorgia Meloni together with the leaders of Spain, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands and Sweden. A second group is made up of countries which, often also due to geographical reasons, have shown closer proximity to the Ukrainian positions (Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), the third includes countries which in the past have raised doubts or questions about tougher sanctions against Russia (Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece and Cyprus), the latter being made up of Portugal, Malta, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Lithuania.
The official photo of the European leaders with Zelensky: in red, partially covered, Giorgia Meloni (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
In the meeting with the European authorities, Zelensky also supported the request for a fast track for Ukraine’s entry into the European Union. This is a process that normally takes at least ten years to complete. In the past, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he hoped for membership within two years, a hypothesis considered by all European authorities to be unrealistic. Although even in today’s meetings the European leaders have repeatedly repeated that “the home of Ukraine is Europe”, entry in a short time seems unlikely.