In his most symbolic visit to Ukraine of the three made so far, the Prime Minister wanted to inaugurate the rotating European presidency in Kiev today and thus show his support for Volodimir Zelenski’s executive at a decisive moment in the war, when Ukrainian troops they try to liberate territory on the entire front occupied by the Russians. The goal is for Vladimir Putin to understand that support for Ukraine, despite the length of the war, does not fade. The fatigue of the allies was precisely one of the bets of the Russian regime. For now, the Western response is the opposite.
This visit comes under different circumstances than the previous two. On the one hand, the situation in the Ukrainian capital is now more stable and secure than on previous trips, where we got to see the president in a bulletproof vest visiting cities like Borodianka, which had been liberated weeks before. kyiv now enjoys a tight and effective air defense with missile and drone shoot-down rates, though of course security is never total. Sánchez pointed out that “things have changed” since his first speech in February, the anniversary of the invasion, as Ukraine is now in the middle of a counteroffensive against an enemy “that is showing signs of weakness.” “We have all seen what happened last week. The events speak for themselves,” he said, referring to the failed mutiny led by the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Sánchez’s visit to the capital of Ukraine included a speech before the Parliament of that country, where the Spanish president gave a speech before the Rada, and a meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, in the presidential palace. In the subsequent press conference at the Quimeras palace, inside the highly guarded government quarter, Sánchez reiterated his commitment to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and “regardless of the price to pay.” “I wanted to tell you that we are with you and we will be for as long as it takes. I wanted to tell you that we will support Ukraine regardless of the price to pay,” he said, before announcing a new aid package for Ukraine of 55 million euros and another four Leopard battle tanks, in addition to other armored vehicles, already announced by Defense Minister Margarita Robles about 10 days ago.
Sánchez expressed the conviction that Ukraine emerged victorious from that contest and praised Ukraine’s “determination” in its fight for independence, despite the fact that the price to pay is “enormous.” The Ukrainian president, for his part, thanked not only the shipment of weapons by Spain and having welcomed “more than 180,000 Ukrainians” in our country, but also pointed to Spain as one of the nations that pushes the most “to include to Ukraine in the European Union”.
In the context of the “illegal and unjustified Russian aggression against Ukraine”, Sánchez thanked those countries and regions that are proposing a “just and lasting peace”, but stressed that these proposals cannot be accepted because this is a ” aggressive war with an aggressor and a victim”. Thus, he has ruled that “Russia and Ukraine cannot be treated equally”, and has underlined his support for the “peace formula” of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, which “is respectful of international law and the Charter of United Nations”.
Asked about military aid in the form of combat planes, Zelenski assured that today he has “the same doubts” as the journalists. “There is a coalition to train our pilots, but I don’t know the reason for not starting that training,” he said, visibly annoyed. Another issue he referred to was the Zaporizhia power plant and the possibility, according to Ukrainian intelligence, that the Russians would blow up the atomic reactors to cause an intentional radioactive leak. “We all need to understand the reasons why Russia is planning this action. When the plant changes hands, they have plans to remotely detonate these explosives, so they can blame us for it. That’s why we have to explain very well what they’re going to do. Russia must be afraid to do something like that and political pressure is essential.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba assured that “after the war it would be suicidal for Europe not to accept Ukraine as a member of NATO” and stressed that this would mean that a conflict would remain on the table as Russia would not be deterred from attack Ukraine again.
Following this act, the Spanish president had lunch with the Ukrainian president and visited the Territorial Defense hospital, which receives seriously wounded from the front who, in most cases, require a long period of rehabilitation. After this appointment, President Sánchez resumed his European agenda and left kyiv by train to meet with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
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