At a time when Ukrainian troops on the battlefield are beginning to notice a lack of weapons and ammunition, the international community wants Kyiv to know that it will be at its side for as long as necessary. This is the message that the four leaders who traveled yesterday by train to the Ukrainian capital wanted to communicate to President Volodymyr Zelensky in the commemoration of the two years of a war that has forced Europe to think about rearming and has changed the geopolitical balances. international.
The entourage was remarkable. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, attended alongside Zelenski; the Prime Minister of Belgium – the country that hosts the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU –, Alexander De Croo; the Canadian president, Justin Trudeau, representing transatlantic support, and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the country that this year hosts the presidency of the G-7. In fact, Meloni led the first meeting of the leaders of the world’s largest economies in the afternoon in a videoconference meeting that she held from the Saint Sofia Cathedral. She invited Zelensky himself to participate, and before him they committed to sending more military aid throughout 2024. Rome has made it very clear from the beginning that the Ukrainian issue will be one of the main topics of her presidency.
“More than ever, we stand firmly with Ukraine. Financially, economically, militarily, morally. Until the country is finally free,” Von der Leyen promised. The four Western leaders went to Gostomel airport, a symbol of the failure of the beginning of the Russian invasion, when Moscow intended to quickly take over this infrastructure to control the capital. Next to them were a plane and several military vehicles destroyed during those days in 2022. “We have been fighting for this for 730 days of our lives. And we will win, on the best day of our lives,” Zelensky promised, in a message of gratitude for the help provided during all this time.
Meloni – who surprised with an unannounced trip to Ukraine – took the opportunity to sign a security guarantee agreement with Ukraine similar to those he has already reached with the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Denmark. Trudeau did the same on behalf of Canada, with an aid package worth 3 billion Canadian dollars. “We continue to support Ukraine in what I have always considered the right of its people to defend themselves. This necessarily presupposes military support as well; confusing the much-used word peace with surrender, as some do, is a hypocritical approach that we will never share,” the Italian president promised in a joint press conference.
At the opening of the G-7, Zelensky, flanked by Meloni and Trudeau, was very clear. “We are counting on you for our common victory,” he told the leaders gathered virtually. And he added: “Remember that imperial ambitions and revanchism only end with the defeat of those infected by them, and that only this result leads us to true security and democratic progress.”
