Russia threatened with 'decomposition', Ukraine has a 'European future', says von der Leyen

Europe 1 with AFP 9:28 p.m., April 8, 2022

Russia is threatened with "breakdown" due to ever-tighter sanctions, while Ukraine has a "European future", Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, said on Friday during a visit to Kyiv.

"Russia will sink into economic, financial and technological decay, while Ukraine is marching towards a European future," Ursula von der Leyen said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky.

"The EU is on your side", says von der Leyen to the Ukrainian people

“Your fight is also our fight. I am here in Kyiv with you today to send a very strong message: the EU is on your side. We are on your side,” she added.

Ursula Von der Leyen condemned the massacre of civilians in Boutcha, which Ukraine blamed on Russian forces that occupied this small town northwest of the Ukrainian capital.

“Our humanity was shattered in Boucha,” she said, also describing as “appalling” the death of around 50 people in a strike against a train station in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. , a few hours earlier.

"We are mobilizing our economic power to make (Vladimir) Putin pay a very, very high price", the Russian president, underlined the President of the European Commission.

"I am deeply convinced that Ukraine will win this war, that democracy will win this war," she insisted.

“We will work together with Ukraine to rebuild Ukraine and that means massive investments and reforms and that will shape and forge the path to the European Union,” she promised.

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"We are with you when you dream of Europe"

Referring in this regard to Ukraine's ambition to join the EU, Ursula von der Leyen assured: "We are with you when you dream of Europe".

And she gave Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire which will serve as a "basis" for the discussions in the coming weeks.

"This is where your path to Europe and the European Union begins," she commented.

"Our delegation (the EU Embassy) will return to Kyiv. I think this is important news to announce today. Our delegation is coming back, the European Union is coming back to Kyiv," he said. the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also present.

For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky noted that, although he was "personally grateful" for the five rounds of sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, "it was not enough".

"I would like to thank you for the financial support for (the purchase) of weapons (...). I am grateful for this financial support for our ability to defend our country," he said.

“We share the same values,” says Zelensky

"They took a lot of things from us, territories and people. We can take back our territories, but we can never restore (these) people's lives", hammered the Ukrainian president.

"For all of this, (Russia) is going to have to take responsibility. That's why I'm asking you to help us with your sanctions. They should only increase," he added.

"We share the same values ​​and it is for them that we fight," said Volodymyr Zelensky.

Accompanied by Josep Borrell and Slovak Prime Minister Edouard Heger, Ursula von der Leyen visited Boutcha on Friday, which has become a symbol of the atrocities of the war in Ukraine.

The three leaders went to see the mass graves dug in this locality to bury the dozens of civilians killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion.