Visiting kyiv and Boutcha, von der Leyen promises a "European future" to Ukraine
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell visited Boutcha on April 8, 2022. REUTERS - VALENTYN OGIRENKO
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Russia is threatened with "decomposition" due to ever-tighter sanctions, while
Ukraine
has a "European future", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday during a visit to Kyiv.
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“
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.
“
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.
The President of the European Commission has condemned the massacre of civilians in Boutcha, which Ukraine has blamed on the Russian forces which 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.
“Ukraine will win this war”
“
We are mobilizing our economic power to make 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.
Referring in this respect 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 the Ukrainian president a questionnaire that will serve as a “
basis
” for discussions in the coming weeks.
“
This is where your path to Europe and the European Union begins
,” she commented.
Zelensky calls for more sanctions
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.
“
They took a lot of things from us, territories and people.
We will be able to take back our territories, but we will never be able to restore (the life of these) people
”, hammered the Ukrainian president.
“
For all of this, (Russia) will have to assume its 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 are fighting
," said the Ukrainian president.
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.
With AFP
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Ukraine
European Union
Russia
Volodymyr Zelensky
Ursula von der Leyen