The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has arrived in Kiev. The prime minister, like the other leaders who have visited the city in recent months, landed yesterday evening at her airport in Rzeszow, Poland, and she traveled by train during the night from the Polish border. Meloni will chair the G7 meeting from the capital of Ukraine exactly two years after the invasion of the country by Russian forces and during the day she will also have two meetings with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The virtual meeting of the G7, the first of the Italian presidency, is scheduled for 5pm, 4pm in Italy. Also present in Kiev are the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Belgian prime minister and rotating president of the EU, Alexander De Croo and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau who traveled on the same train as the prime minister. The trip has only now been made official for security reasons.
Ceremony in Hostomel and G7 in Santa Sofia: the premier’s appointments
A ceremony with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, a symbolic place of the Ukrainian resistance in the hours immediately following the Russian attack on the capital, the signing of the Italy-Ukraine security agreements at the Mariinsky Palace, seat of the Ukrainian presidency and then the G7 meeting via video conference from the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in the center of Kiev. These are the appointments of the day of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Kiev for the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The G7 videoconference meeting will be held at 5pm local time (4pm Italian time).
Leader at the commemoration of the Battle of Hostomel
In a hangar the charred nacelle of the Antonov An-225 Mriya, which was the largest plane in the world, and in front of it the gutted control tower. The Antonov international cargo airport in Kiev, a symbolic place of the Ukrainian resistance, is the setting for the first appointment of the program of Giorgia Meloni and the other international leaders who today have chosen to be at Volodymyr Zelensky’s side on the second anniversary of the conflict: the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo as rotating president of the EU Council and the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. Under the eyes of numerous soldiers, Zelensky arrived and shot a video with his smartphone on the runway of the airport, 25 kilometers north-west of the capital, which was one of the first objectives of the Russian offensive launched on February 24, 2022, becoming the scene of the Battle of Hostomel for which some Ukrainian veterans today receive military honors. The Mriya was destroyed during clashes between the Russians who aimed to take the airport to land numerous paratroopers and light armored vehicles using cargo planes, and the Ukrainian National Guard, who damaged the runway, not allowing the Russian planes to transport forces through the airlift. The Russians managed to conquer the airport area but thanks to unexpected Ukrainian resistance, the airport’s landing strip was too damaged to allow Moscow’s forces to land their planes and thus create a bridgehead for the conquest. of the capital. The Russians managed to occupy the airport but failed to use it, and the Ukrainian Defense Forces liberated it on April 2, 2022.
Ursula von der Leyen: “More support than ever in Kiev”
«In Kiev to celebrate the anniversary of the second year of Russia’s war against Ukraine. And to celebrate the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people. Today more than ever we stand firmly at Ukraine’s side. Financially, economically, militarily, morally. Until the country is finally free.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula, writes about her on X, announcing her arrival in the Ukrainian capital.