Reuters. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held talks in Kyiv on Tuesday (May 9) to discuss Ukraine's integration into Europe and new Russia sanctions, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as Moscow marked the Soviet victory in World War Two.
Zelenskiy told a joint news conference with von der Leyen that Russia had failed to capture the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut in time for May 9 and voiced gratitude to Europe for military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia.
Von der Leyen's trip falls on the EU's Europe Day, which Ukraine adopted as its own on Monday, underlining its ambition to join Western institutions. Ukraine applied to join the European Union last year as the war with Russia raged.
Zelenskiy said after talks with von der Leyen that he expected an eleventh package of EU sanctions to be imposed on Russia soon and that it should include powerful sanctions on Russia's atomic sector.
He said he expected the EU's summit in June would yield a positive appraisal of Ukraine's integration process. "Our values, security, our wellbeing, security on the continent — all of this can be 100% realised for Europe only together with Ukraine," he said.
Despite the gestures of solidarity, Zelenskiy used the news conference to blast what he said were "absolutely unacceptable" trade restrictions imposed by some of Ukraine's neighbours, calling for "strong" European decisions to remove them.
Last week the European Union set restrictions until June 5 on imports of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Kyiv on Tuesday (May 9) the EU created a coordination platform to make solidarity lanes for Ukrainian grain "fully functioning again."
The comments were made at a joint press conference held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy following a new wave of Russian air strikes on the capital.
"They are afraid of the success you represent and the example you show and they are afraid of your path to the European Union," she said on Russia's continuing invasion.
The European Commission, the EU executive, took the unusual step of publicly announcing von der Leyen's trip the day before she travelled. Visiting dignitaries usually keep wartime trips Ukraine secret for security reasons.
Russia has intensified its long-range attacks on targets in Ukraine as Kyiv's forces prepare to launch a counteroffensive to try to recapture Russian-occupied territory occupied in the south and east.
Russia launched at least 25 missiles overnight, with the large part of them aimed at the capital Kyiv, but nearly all of them were shot down, Ukrainian officials said.
