France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Italy’s Draghi arrive in Kyiv

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv on Thursday. The leaders descend from the train onto a platform in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Asked by a journalist why he had come to Ukraine, Macron said: “For a message of European unity”.It is their first trip to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of the country launched on February 24. Macron said he came to Ukraine "to talk about both the present and the future since the coming weeks, we know, will be very difficult". The visit by the three European leaders has taken weeks to organise with the heads of state looking to overcome criticism within Ukraine over their response to the war. Kyiv has criticised France, Germany and to a lesser extent Italy for alleged foot-dragging in their support for Ukraine, accusing them of being slow to deliver weapons. As per reports, the leaders arrived on a special overnight train provided by the Ukrainian authorities, and held long meetings in the dining car after midnight to align their positions ahead of meeting with Zelenskyy. 

"Le prossime settimane saranno molto difficili" ha dichiarato il presidente francese #Kiev #Ucraina https://t.co/GU5EMiPCjx

— RaiNews (@RaiNews) June 16, 2022

The trio is due to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.The visit comes as Ukraine is pushing to be given official candidate status to join the European Union. Macron said the visit is meant to show “support” to Ukraine “both for the present and the future.” The trio had travelled onboard a special train that left Poland in the early hours of Thursday. German media said they had met “in the night” in Poland's south-eastern city of Rzeszow, which has an international airport.They arrived separately and met on board shortly after the train's departure.