Macron, Scholz and Draghi arrive in kyiv on their first trip to Ukraine since the start of the war

The visit, which comes a day before the European Commission rules on Ukraine’s status as a candidate to join the EU, is the first by the leaders of these three countries to Ukraine since the start of the war.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; and the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, have arrived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday on a trip to address the war with Russia and in which they are scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

«The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz; the president of France, Emmanuel Macron; and the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, say good morning to us on our diplomatic train,” said the state administration of rail transport in Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia. “It would be nice if the three European leaders also agree to support the proper completion of Ukraine’s application for candidate status to the European Union,” the company added in a brief message on its Telegram account.

According to information collected by the Italian news agency Adnkronos, the three European leaders have taken about ten hours to cover the route between the train station in the Polish city of Medyka (southeast) and Kyiv, a route in which they have also maintained an informal summit of about two hours.

Macron, Scholz, and Draghi’s trip had not been previously announced for security reasons. The three are expected to be received by Zelensky, after which they will give a joint press conference. For his part, Draghi plans to visit the town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, without it being clear for now if he will be accompanied by Macron and Scholz.

The visit, which comes a day before the European Commission rules on Ukraine’s status as a candidate to join the EU, is the first by the leaders of these three countries to Ukraine since the start of the war, which broke out on February 24 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.