German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis pledged "unequivocally" support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian attack, and declared their support for Ukraine's "immediate" status as a candidate for European Union membership.

During an unprecedented visit to Kiev today, Thursday, and after their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the presidential palace in the capital, European leaders announced that they would focus on supporting Ukraine on several levels, including the issue of joining the European Union.

The three European leaders arrived by train in Kyiv, a journey that took about 10 hours, from southeastern Poland.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who holds the rotating presidency of the European Union until June 30, announced that they had come to send a "message of European unity" and "support" to Kiev "for the present and the future," stressing that his country would provide Ukraine with more long-range cannons.

For his part, the German chancellor described Moscow's war on Kyiv as brutal, and said that Russia targeted innocent civilians and civilian facilities, and said that the visit aims to "show our solidarity" and "ensure that the financial and humanitarian assistance that we organize, as well as with regard to weapons, will continue for as long as that is." necessary to fight for Ukraine's independence."

For his part, the Italian Prime Minister stressed work to rebuild everything that was destroyed during the war.

On the other hand, Zelensky thanked European leaders for the visit, and stressed that his country - by "defending Europe's values ​​in the face of Russian aggression" - had obtained the right to join the European bloc, which the European Union refused to consider before the start of the Russian war.

The Ukrainian president said that the visit of European leaders today confirms that the Ukrainians are not alone in the face of the Russian attack, stressing that his country needs more weapons as soon as possible to be able to liberate its lands.

The 27 countries of the European Union will decide whether to grant Ukraine the status of an official candidate country at a summit to be held on June 23-24, after which the process of negotiations and possible reforms that may take years will begin, and the European Commission is supposed to express its opinion on this issue Friday.

In a related context, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the Russian attack on Ukraine is an attack on the foundations of the United Nations by a member state of the Security Council, and considered that this war has multiplier effects around the world and exacerbates the food crisis.


Russian response

Commenting on the visit, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Western arms shipments to Ukraine would be useless.

Peskov added that Moscow hopes that the leaders' talks will not be limited to the issue of supporting Ukraine with weapons, noting that his country is ready to help solve the grain crisis, but does not understand the position of the Ukrainian side on this problem.

He added that Russia is facing an unprecedented economic war, as well as attempts to stifle and isolate it, and that the United States did not take such difficult decisions against Russia even during the Cold War, nor against any other country in the world.

In the context of talks between Moscow and Kiev, the head of the Russian delegation to negotiations with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Kyiv has not yet responded to the draft agreement submitted by Russia.

The Russian official described the issue of the suspension of negotiations with Ukraine as a tragic matter for its people, stressing that the course of the negotiation process was halted at the initiative of Ukraine, not from the Russian side, noting that Kyiv took this decision after consultations held by a high-ranking US delegation with the Ukrainian authorities at the end of last April.

After intermittent talks were held between the two sides in March, including a high-level meeting between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, negotiations between the two countries stalled.

Austin stressed that the western camp will move faster and push more forcefully to help Ukraine (Anatolia)

NATO meeting

Meanwhile, the defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries began a meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, and at the top of the agenda was strengthening deterrence on the eastern borders of NATO countries in light of the Russian war on Ukraine.

This meeting comes in preparation for the NATO summit scheduled to be held in the Spanish capital, Madrid, at the level of leaders later this month.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said allies would make long-term strategic decisions on ensuring NATO's ability to defend every inch of the alliance's territory, as well as the need for more defense spending.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Stoltenberg accused Russia of trying to attack arms shipments by NATO partners to Ukraine, stressing the alliance's consensus on the need to provide more military support to Kiev.

For his part, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the western camp will move faster and will push more forcefully to help Ukraine.

He stressed that the United States, Britain and Germany are working to develop Ukraine's firepower capabilities, especially in the field of long-range missiles.

The US Secretary welcomed the decision of Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, considering that this decision consolidates democracy.

Before the start of the meeting, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed that her country will provide Ukraine with multiple launch missile systems, in addition to training and ammunition, noting that this is a strong message of support from NATO to the Ukrainians.


field situation

On the ground, the fighting has been focused for days in Lysechantsk and Severodonetsk, two major cities in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine that has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and Moscow has decided to take full control of it.

The two cities are under constant bombardment, and their infrastructure - electricity, water, and communications - is almost non-functioning.

"It is getting more and more difficult by the day. The Russians are bringing more weapons into the city and they are trying to launch attacks from several directions," Severodonetsk mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said Thursday.

For his part, the commander of the Ukrainian forces Oleksiy Gromov admitted that "the situation in Severodonetsk is complicated."

Ukrainian forces are holed up, especially in the Azot chemical factory, which is one of the symbols of the city, which had a population of about 100,000 people before the war.

On Tuesday, Moscow proposed creating a "humanitarian corridor" that would allow the evacuation of civilians to areas controlled by the Russians, but Kyiv did not confirm this, and Russia on Wednesday accused Kyiv's forces of "failing" the operation.