-The president has arrived in the Ukrainian capital, where he will convey to his counterpart Spain's support for Ukraine.
-The Chief Executive has traveled with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen.
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| Pedro Sánchez visits Borodianka, the scene of "Putin's atrocities" |
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, arrived this Thursday in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, where he will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodímir Zelenski, to whom he will transfer Spain's support to the country that has been invaded by Vladimir's Russia Putin since last February 24. This has been confirmed by Moncloa sources.
From Moncloa they do not give more details about what activities Sánchez's trip will host, citing security issues. "Throughout the day we will be offering more details and reporting on the president's trip to the Ukrainian capital," these sources add.
Thus, it is not yet known whether the president's trip will be able to attend the opening of the Spanish embassy in Kyiv, which does not yet have a public date. This fact was announced this Monday by Sánchez himself, who gave "the next few days" as the date. The reopening of the embassy is also a decision that other European countries have made. It should be remembered that the staff of the Spanish diplomatic legation and its ambassador, Silvia Cortés Marín, were evacuated on February 25 due to the Russian invasion.
All in all, the objective of the trip is to reaffirm Spain's commitment to this country and show its solidarity in the face of the aggression to which they are being subjected by Russia, according to the spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, on Tuesday at the press conference after the Council of Ministers.
In this sense, just yesterday the president declared that he would convey to the Ukrainian president Volodímir Zelenski "the resounding commitment of Spanish society to peace". This was said on a visit to the Ukrainian refugee center located in Malaga, where he gave figures on the people who have been welcomed. The president estimated around 134,000 Ukrainians has arrived in Spain since the start of the war, of which around 64,000 have already received temporary protection authorization. "Around 72% of the people who arrive from Ukraine are women and 37% are under 18 years of age," Sánchez explained.
Just arrived to Kyiv.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 21, 2022
Ukraine has the support, solidarity and commitment of Spain. pic.twitter.com/QyXMEA7vcY
Other European leaders have already traveled
There are other political leaders from other countries who have already gone to Kyiv to meet Zelensky. The first to go personally to Kyiv were the leaders of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki; from Slovenia, Janez Jansa; and from the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala. They traveled in mid-March, in a personal capacity, although they previously informed the EU.
On behalf of the EU institutions, the first traveler -on March 31- was the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who paved the way for the head of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and the High Representative of Foreign Policy of the Twenty-seven, Josep Borrell. Already in April, the Prime Ministers of Slovakia, Eduard Heger, and the Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, as well as the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, also traveled to the Ukrainian capital.