The leaders’ arrival draws a mixed reaction in Ukraine.
|
Version 0 of 1. In Kyiv, the visit on Thursday by the three European leaders — however welcome at a time of military setbacks for Ukraine — was seen as far from an unalloyed show of support. Though a dramatic gesture, and indeed involving some risk, the leaders’ visit to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, after an overnight train ride from the country’s western border was seen as blending a show of support with unwanted advice to make concessions. Disagreements between Ukraine and the governments of Germany, France and Italy — the main European countries seen taking a relatively soft line on Russia — have been bubbling for weeks. “Germans, Italians and French are dreaming of stopping this madness,” Volodymyr Ariyev, a member of Parliament with the European Solidarity party, said in an interview about the war. “But they are not losing territory, so at the cost of Ukraine, they are prepared for anything.” But concessions are no solution for dealing with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, he said. “They must understand that if they are back to appeasing Putin in this situation, they will end up with a war on the territory of the European Union,” Mr. Ariyev said. Ukrainian officials had pushed back on President Emmanuel Macron of France’s telegraphing support for a negotiated settlement before the visit. He had said on Tuesday that “the Ukrainian president and the country’s leaders will have to negotiate with Russia, and we Europeans will be at this table to discuss security guarantees.” Mr. Macron also said, “We will do everything to stop Russian forces of war, to help the Ukrainian people and their army.” On their side in the run-up to the leaders’ visit, Ukrainian officials issued blunt warnings that only a vast increase in weapons transfers could turn the tide of war in the east, where Russian forces have been pursuing a brutal campaign of bombardments of cities. An adviser to Mr. Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in an interview that Ukraine would need 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 300 multiple rocket launchers. Ukraine has received a fraction of this amount, so far. Germany, in particular, has been slow to deliver and has pledged few heavy weapons. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said this week that Ukraine was still waiting for the weapons, and that he hoped Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany would announce a delivery date while in Kyiv. Officials in the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had been blunt in criticizing Mr. Macron’s efforts to hold onto a diplomatic role for France as a mediator. Mr. Macron’s comment this month that the West should seek to avoid “humiliating” Russia brought heaps of scorn in Ukraine, where people have had to contend with bodies strewn about their streets and cities leveled by artillery. “Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Twitter. “It is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives.” |