French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that all four European Union leaders present in Kyiv supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine.
Mr Macron made the comments at a news conference after meeting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv alongside German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis.
“We all four support the immediate EU candidate status”, said Macron.
He added that France would step up arms deliveries to the country at war with Russia.
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Mr Macron’s meeting with Mr Zelenskiy was the first time the two leaders had met physically since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The visit by Mr Macron, Mr Scholz and Mr Draghi comes as Ukraine once again pleaded for more weapons to fend off Russia advances in the south and the east. Major-General Dmytro Marchenko, who leads Ukraine’s forces in Mykolaiv, said his troops could achieve victory over Russia if they are given the right weapons.
The trip has taken weeks to organise with the three men looking to overcome criticism within Ukraine over their response to the war.
The leaders of Germany, France and Italy rode into Kyiv on an overnight train on Thursday in a joint demonstration of support for Ukraine, where officials were pleading for more and faster deliveries of Western arms to hold off Russia’s assault.
France wants a military Ukrainian victory against Russia that reestablishes the territorial integrity of the country, including Crimea that was seized by Russia in 2014, a French diplomatic source said on Thursday.
The source added it was up to the Mr Zelenskiy to define what a military victory could be.
France’s ambassador to Kyiv, Etienne de Poncins, published on his Twitter account a photo taken published by the Italian daily La Repubblica paper of the three leaders in a train en route to Kyiv.
The symbolic visit comes a day before the European Commission makes a recommendation on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate, something the biggest European nations have been lukewarm about and are set to discuss at a leaders’ summit on June 23rd-24th.
On a visit to the Kyiv suburbs Mr Scholz said Irpin, like Bucha before it, has become a symbol of the “cruelty” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its senseless violence, adding that the war must end.
“Irpin, like Bucha, has become a symbol of the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian war, of senseless violence,” Mr Scholz wrote on Twitter. “The brutal destruction of this city is a warning: this war must end.”
Mr Macron said massacres and war crimes had been committed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin, which he and other European leaders visited before meeting Mr Zelenskiy.
“It’s a heroic city, marked by the stigmata of barbarism,” Mr Macron said.
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Kyiv has criticised France, Germany and, to a lesser extent, Italy, for alleged foot-dragging in their support for Ukraine, accusing them of being slow to deliver weapons and of putting their own prosperity ahead of Ukraine’s freedom and security.
On his visit to Romania on Wednesday, Mr Macron voiced a tougher line on Russia and said Europe needed to send a strong signal to Ukraine, while insisting Kyiv would eventually have to negotiate with Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it hoped the leaders of France, Germany and Italy would use their visit to Kyiv to discuss other subjects than the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters that Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi should use their time with Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky to take a “realistic look at the state of affairs”.
Earlier, the head of the UK’s armed forces says Russia has already “strategically lost” the war in Ukraine and is now a “more diminished power”.
Admiral Tony Radakin said Vladimir Putin had lost 25 per cent of Russia’s land power for “tiny” gains. While Russia may achieve “tactical successes” in the coming weeks, he said any notion that the war had been a success was “nonsense”. Admiral Radakin, who is the UK’s chief of defence staff, said Russia was running out of troops and advanced missiles and would never be able to take over all of Ukraine.
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Admiral Radakin spoke to the PA news agency as he visited Scotland on Wednesday, where he met soldiers at Edinburgh Castle. He said: “This is a dreadful mistake by Russia. Russia will never take control of Ukraine. “Russia has strategically lost already. Nato is stronger, Finland and Sweden are looking to join.”
He said Russia had been forced to give up its objectives of taking over most Ukrainian cities and was now engaged in a tactical battle where fighting is “tough”. Admiral Radakin said: “The Russian machine is grinding away, and it’s gaining a couple of — two, three, five — kilometres every day.
“And that’s tough for Ukraine, but this is going to be a long fight. And we’re supporting Ukraine, Ukraine has shown how courageous it really is.
“And Russia has vulnerabilities because it’s running out of people, it’s running out of high-tech missiles.”
He continued: “President Putin has used about 25 per cent of his army’s power to gain a tiny amount of territory and 50,000 people either dead or injured.”
Russia is now a “more diminished power” diplomatically and economically than several months ago, he said. The chief of defence staff said: “Any notion that this is a success for Russia is nonsense. Russia is failing.
“It might be getting some tactical successes over the last few weeks. And those might continue for the next few weeks.
“But Russia is losing strategically.”
Admiral Radakin said he was in touch with his Ukrainian counterpart, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who recognised that they were in a “tough battle” in the east.
Admiral Radakin said: “They’re courageous people. “They’re ingenious people in terms of how they’re taking the fight to the Russians.
“But they’re also honest people, with saying actually they need some help.”
He said the UK would continue its support for Ukraine and “we’re in this for the long haul”.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called on the West to help his country achieve “heavy weapons parity” with Russia in the war — calling for more heavy artillery, rocket systems and vehicles. Admiral Radakin said he was “wary” of phrases such as parity as no single capability would determine the outcome of the war.
The UK is providing MLRS rocket systems and has just delivered 120 armoured fighting vehicles, he said. He said: “We’ve been providing anti-tank weapons, there are other elements that we’re providing and that will continue.
“But it’s the mass that’s provided by the whole of the international community — and it’s putting that alongside the courage and the resolve of the Ukrainian armed forces to fight for their territory.
“That is where the real parity lies, and where the real strength of Ukraine lies.” — Reuters/PA