Severodonetsk is getting closer to Russian control 3:12
(CNN Spanish) -
The photo took a long time to arrive, but it finally happened.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sit at the same table as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
It happened this Thursday: the leaders of the two main economies of the European Union traveled to the Ukrainian capital together with the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, and the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.
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Since the start of the war on February 24, numerous world leaders and ministers—including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Polish President Andrzej Duda and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken— they visited Kyiv, which was under siege at the beginning of the invasion.
Macron and Scholz, however, took more than four months, and this delay coincides with a much more moderate position of both countries in their support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
But his visit also takes place in the context of Ukraine's application for accession to the European Union, which Germany, Italy, France and Romania said they support.
"The next few weeks, we know, will be very difficult. I want to support them and be by their side," Macron said Thursday in a "message of European unity addressed to Ukrainian men and women."
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From left to right, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis meet for a working session at the Mariinsky Palace, Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 16.
(Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)
And Scholz said that "we support Ukraine by supplying arms, and we will continue to do so as long as Ukraine needs our support."
The position of Paris and Berlin
Ukraine has been receiving military and political support from the West since day one.
The United States and European countries are the main suppliers.
France and Germany have shipped weapons and are in the process of shipping more, but they have also resisted certain shipments and systems, delayed deliveries and toned down their discourse.
Macron, who has stated his intentions to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow, said "we must not humiliate Russia so that the day the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means."
The French president was one of the last world leaders to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before the war.
It was on February 8, when the accumulation of Russian troops on the border announced the outcome of February 24.
Latest news from Russia's war in Ukraine: European leaders travel to Kyiv
At that meeting, Macron said that he was able to find a point of agreement with Putin on the crisis: "It is up to us to jointly agree on concrete and specific measures to stabilize the situation and de-escalate tensions."
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And two weeks later, Russian tanks crossed the border.
Scholz, on the other hand, has been firmer in his words in the face of what he considers a "historical moment of transition".
"Putin must not win the war from him, and I am convinced that he will not win it," he said in April.
But his government has been criticized for its concrete actions in support of Ukraine, and for continuing to rely on its energy imports from Russia.
Before the war, Germany was the destination for 11% of Russia's oil exports (second only to China as a buyer), 16% of its gas exports, and 7% of its coal exports.
Due to this dependency, Germany and Europe - as a whole the main buyer of energy from Russia - have not completely cut their imports after the war, and have instead opted for a partial and progressive reduction until the end of the year.
Germany has also been criticized for its cooperation with Russia on the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, promoted by Scholz's predecessor, Angela Merkel.
Pressured by his allies, Scholz announced that he had stopped the certification of the gas pipeline a day before the invasion.
Zelensky's criticisms
Zelensky has criticized both countries for their positions on the war, even suggesting that they amounted to an attempt to appease Vladimir Putin.
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"We need Chancellor Scholz to give us certainty that he will support Ukraine, he and his government must choose not to make a balancing act between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but to choose which is their priority," the Ukrainian president told the broadcaster. German ZDF earlier this week.
"It is only necessary to have enough weapons to achieve it. The partners have them. In sufficient quantities. And we work every day so that the political will gives us those weapons," Zelensky said Monday, during a speech in which he promised to release all the territories occupied by Russia.
Zelensky also referred to Germany's argument that they could not export more advanced weapons since Ukrainian soldiers did not have enough training.
"Many times I heard from certain states that they don't want to give us weapons quickly because our soldiers are not ready, from a technical point of view. But the instructors, our instructors will make them ready," he said.
And, in an interview at the beginning of June, with the Financial Times Zelensky said about Macron that "to be a leader, you don't have to consider yourself as such, but behave as such."
What weapons have Germany and France sent?
In the case of Germany, Scholz rejected at the beginning of the war the possibility of sending weapons to Ukraine, agreeing only to send humanitarian aid and medical equipment.
The decision was consistent with Berlin's policy of not supplying weapons to conflict zones.
But as his allies scrambled to send military aid to Ukraine, Scholz took a first turn within days of the war, agreeing to supply "defensive" weapons systems, such as Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank rockets.
Months later, Berlin agreed to send Gepard anti-aircraft systems — anti-aircraft guns mounted on a tank chassis — and Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled guns. And during his visit on Thursday, Scholz also referred to the Iris-T air defense system.
Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers at the Hindenburg barracks in Munster, Germany, on February 14.
(Gregor Fischer/AFP/Getty Images)
But those systems have not yet reached Ukraine — Ukrainian crews are being trained — and Kyiv insists it also needs offensive weapons, such as tanks and armored personnel carriers, to be able to carry out counteroffensives.
In this regard, Reuters reported in April that the defense company Rheinmetall had applied to the German government for permission to export 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 88 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine.
Berlin has not yet announced a decision.
That same month, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country was limited in the weapons it could send to Ukraine "quickly and without delay" but would provide "training and maintenance."
"We have supplied anti-tank weapons, Stingers [air defense systems] and many other weapons that we have not talked about publicly," the minister said.
France, for its part, agreed in April to send CAESAR self-propelled guns and MILAN anti-tank missiles, among other systems.
Meanwhile, the United States announced on Wednesday a new US$1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which includes 18 howitzers, 36,000 shells and two Harpoon coastal defense systems.
As of April, US military aid to Ukraine stood at about $3.4 billion.
With information from Jake Tapper.
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