German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz
is preparing a visit to Kiev with Italian Prime Minister Mario
Draghi
and French President Emmanuel
Macron.
This was revealed by Bild, citing French and Ukrainian government circles.
He added that the three European leaders would like to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the G7 summit, scheduled for late June.
Blitz in Kiev by
von der Leyen
in Kiev to meet
Zelensky
: Ukraine 'is on the right path for Europe because it has a solid parliamentary democracy' confirmed the president of the EU commission announcing 'a very clear road map on reconstruction'.
Biden-Zelensky tension.
The head of the White House scolds him because 'he did not want to hear from us about the Russian invasion, but we had the data'.
But Kiev replies: 'That's not true, we also asked for preventive sanctions'.
First Russian passports with simplified procedure delivered to 23 Ukrainians in Kherson.
Also required in Zaporizhia.
Russian bombing of the Azot chemical plant in the city of Severodonetsk caused a violent fire to break out after a loss of tons of oil.
The governor of Lugansk Serhiy Gaidai reported this on national TV, without specifying whether the fire was extinguished.
About 800 people have taken refuge in the plant.
Russian air force bombings on the border between Kharkiv and Donbass
SURPRISE VISIT BY VON DER LEYEN
"I am returning to Kiev to meet President Zelensky and Prime Minister Shmyhal. We will take stock of the work that will need to be done together for the
reconstruction
" of Ukraine and "the progress made" by the country "in its
path European
".
This was stated by the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaking with a small group of international media, including ANSA, on the train that took her to Kiev.
The update on the topic of Ukraine's candidacy that will be made in today's meetings "will contribute to our assessment, which will come soon," added von der Leyen.
"We want to create a
road map
very clear on the reconstruction "of Ukraine. This was stated by the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the joint statement with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. Von der Leyen reiterated the need to combine" investments and reforms ".
"Kiev was already on the
right track
before the war, it has a solid parliamentary democracy, it has a functioning administration.
We see a highly digitized country.
It is a country that already has trade and association agreements.
There are still reforms to be done in the field of corruption and in the administration field to attract investors ", explained von der Leyen in the joint statement with Zelensky." We appreciate the enormous efforts "of Kiev, he added." The Ukrainian people have shown that they are have a lot of strength and determination and I am convinced that together you will overcome this terrible war ", said von der Leyen." We are by your side, Slava Ukraini! ", he added, finally greeting with the now symbolic phrase: '
Glory to Ukraine
'.
"This is a decisive moment not only for Ukraine but for the whole European continent: Russia wants to divide and weaken the EU. Europe is its goal", said Zelensky, underlining how Kiev "is waiting for a positive response" from the EU on the Ukrainian candidacy.
"We await this support for the European summit which promises to be historic", added Zelensky.
"Unfortunately the war continues and we need a
seventh package of sanctions
. The activities of all Russian banks, without distinction, and in particular
Gazprombank
in particular, must be stopped ," Zelensky stressed.
"Ukraine can export energy to European countries," he added.
Zelensky: 'We will fight as long as we have weapons'
BIDEN AND ZELENSKY
US President Joe Biden said his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky
"did not want to hear"
American warnings prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating," Biden said, "but I knew we had the information to support (the analysis)."
Then the US president added: "(Russian President Vladimir Putin) would have crossed the border. There was no doubt, and Zelensky did not want to listen, as did many other people. I understand why, but in the end (Putin) does. did".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Western partners
for preventive sanctions
against Russia before it invaded Ukraine, but was not heard: presidential spokesman Sergei Nikiforov said, commenting on the words of US President Joe Biden, according to which Zelensky "did not want to hear" the American warnings about the danger of a Russian attack.
According to Nikiforov, Zelensky had three or four telephone conversations with Biden: the leaders exchanged views and assessments on the situation regarding the threat of the Russian invasion.
"Therefore, the phrase 'he did not want to hear' probably needs clarification. Also, if you remember, the president called on the partners to introduce a package of preemptive sanctions to push Russia to withdraw troops and reduce the tension. And in this case we can. say our partners 'didn't want to hear from us'
FOOD EMERGENCY
The Ukrainian president said that the outcome of the war in his country has affected not only Ukraine, but also the international order.
"It is on the battlefields of Ukraine that the future rules of this world are being decided," said the Ukrainian leader, in a video link to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Zelensky then recalled that Russia is blocking ports in the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, adding that if "we are unable to export our food, the world will face a serious food crisis and famine in many countries. of Asia and Africa ".
The BBC reports it
Up to 300,000 tons of grain, stored at the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv on the Black Sea, may have been destroyed by Russian bombing last week, Ukrainian agriculture minister Taras Vysotskyi said today.
Speaking on national TV, the minister said that, according to records, at the beginning of the war the warehouses of one of Ukraine's largest agricultural terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv contained 250,000 to 300,000 tons of wheat and corn.
The news comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that due to the Ukrainian export block, the world risks facing a "serious food crisis and famine" addressing delegates to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
At the moment Brussels is aware that the situation remains impasse.
The so-called 'Solidariety Lane' can obviate the transport by land of a minimum part of the tons of grain still blocked in Ukrainian warehouses.
ANSA agency
Ukraine, the chronicle of the day - World
Russian forces occupying the Ukrainian city of Mariupol demolished 1,300 residential buildings without removing the hundreds of corpses left in the rubble, according to Mayor Vadym Boychenko.
(HANDLE)
Ukraine returns to ask for weapons against Russia, complaining about the shortage of ammunition.
Moscow "
wants to destroy every city
" in the Donbass but we will do everything to stop the Russians as long as there is artillery from our western partners: so Zelensky. About 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the Russian invasion began on February 24. This was announced by Oleksiy Arestovich, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by the Dpa. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov had declared earlier this week that about a hundred Ukrainian soldiers are killed every day.
ANSA agency
Ukraine, appeal from Kiev: 'We are losing, we have no more weapons' - World
Lavrov: 'Open to dialogue but the tango can be danced in two';
then on the death sentence of the two British and the Moroccan: 'We must not interfere with the Republic of Donetsk'.
Johnson: 'We will do everything for their release.'
The Severodonetsk Ice Palace destroyed by Russian bombing.
Kiev: 'More weapons or we lose'.
THE CHRONICLE OF THE DAY (ANSA)
THE MARTIRE CITY
The
mayor of Mariupol
speaks of buildings demolished by the Russians with still corpses inside, which end up in landfills with the rubble.
The mayor - who fled Mariupol towards the territory controlled by Ukraine - says that at first "the occupants involved the residents of Mariupol in carefully dismantling the rubble" but then when they saw the actual number of bodies that came found they immediately dismissed local residents.
"The real number of corpses under the rubble of the destroyed houses is frightening - writes Boychenko on the Telegram channel of the Mariupol City Council -. Between 50 and 100 people were killed in almost all the destroyed buildings and 1,300 buildings were demolished" in the city.
The mayor adds that since the demolition of the buildings was carried out indiscriminately, the bodies of Mariupol residents killed in the fighting were taken to landfill along with the rubble.
The Municipality of Mariupol estimates that at least 22,000 residents of the southeastern Ukrainian city were killed during the first three months of the war.
"Unfortunately, the real number of people killed could be much higher than reported," according to Boychenko.