Presidents of EU member states in Kyiv

The President of Poland Andrzej Duda, the President of Estonia Alar Karis, the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, and the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs are in Kyiv, where they met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

Photo: Internet

The head of the Polish Office for International Policy Jakub Kumoch reported that this visit was organized by Poland and jointly with Ukraine ensures its logistics and security.

“The Baltic countries are our key partners in security issues in the region, so we decided to go to Kyiv together. Our goal is to support President Zelensky and the defenders of Ukraine at this crucial moment for the country,” said Jakub Kumoch.

This is the first visit of the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last time President of Poland Andrzej Duda and President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda met with Zelensky in Kyiv was on the eve of the war.

The Prime Ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia traveled to Kyiv in mid-March and met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

Recently, the newspaper Bild reported that President of Poland Andrzej Duda proposed to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit the Ukrainian capital together with Baltic colleagues, however, Zelensky did not want to accept the German President in Kyiv “due to his close ties with Russia.” Steinmeier himself also reported this.

“As Foreign Minister, he had close contacts with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Steinmeier was also a strong supporter of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and is considered the architect of the federal government’s policy towards Russia,” Bild reports.

Recently, Kyiv was visited by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU representative Josep Borrell, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.