EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected today for a solidarity visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where she will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, among others.
Von der Leyen took the train from south-eastern Poland to Kyiv during the night. She boarded the train in the small Polish town of Przemysl, 13 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The airspace over Ukraine is closed because of the war.
The former German defense minister is accompanied by a delegation that also includes EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. She is the first Western top politician to visit Ukraine since the war atrocities in the Kiev suburb of Bucha became known.
Fifth sanctions package proposed
In mid-March, however, the heads of government of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic were already in Ukraine to show solidarity. Last week, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, visited Kyiv. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has also announced a visit to Kyiv.
In response to the murder of hundreds of civilians in Butscha, von der Leyen proposed a fifth package of sanctions once morest Russia on Tuesday, which the EU states are now discussing. Among other things, it contains an import ban on coal from Russia, but also further restrictions on trade with Russia and an extensive entry ban for Russian ships in EU ports. For some member states, the sanctions do not go far enough.
