European leaders, Trudeau gather in Kyiv to mark third Ukraine war anniversary

Yahoo

24-02-2025

Feb. 24 (UPI) -- More than a dozen European leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau descended on Kyiv on Monday in a show of support marking the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced on X that leaders of the so-called Nordic-Baltic Eight -- Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Denmark -- plus Canada, Spain and the European Union were there for a "support Ukraine" summit in the capital.
Michal wrote that Ukraine has "shown the world the true meaning of resilience" in the three years since the onset of the war.
"It's only up to Ukraine alone to decide the terms for peace," he wrote. "We believe in Ukraine's victory, but it requires action. We must speed up our support now."
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, who was accompanied by European Council President Antonio Costa, brought the same message from Brussels where EU headquarters were lit up in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.
"We are in Kyiv today, because Ukraine is Europe. In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It's Europe's destiny," she wrote in a post on X.
Addressing the summit, von der Leyen stressed it was not only the future of Ukraine and Europe that were at risk from what she called Russian President Vladimir Putin's "imperial obsession," saying it was in the interest of the whole world that Ukraine remained free and sovereign.
"Autocrats around the world are watching very closely whether there is any impunity if you invade your neighbor and violate international borders. Or if there is true deterrence," von der Leyeb said. "This not only paramount for Europe. It is also important for Asia, for Africa, and both sides of the Atlantic. An investment in Ukraine's sovereignty is an investment in the prevention of future wars."
She pushed back claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States had provided triple the amount of military assistance to Ukraine to that of its European allies, saying EU member states had contributed $140.4 billion -- "more than anyone else."
Announcing fresh sanctions on Russia and $3.7 billion in new funds for Kyiv in March, von der Leyen pledged to make speeding up the "immediate delivery" of weapons and ammunition a top priority in coming weeks.
She said she would bring forward a comprehensive plan to scale up Europe's military-industrial complex to boost arms production and defense capability from which Ukraine would also benefit.
Von der Leyen also announced energy security proposals involving integrating the electricity markets of Ukraine and Moldova into the EU, tapping Ukraine's "vast" gas reserves, 80% of which lie close to EU countries, and pumping money into Ukraine's renewable energy sector.
Trudeau wrote on his X account that he was in Kyiv to meet with Zelensky and show that three years on from Russia's "illegal full-scale invasion" that Canada "stands with Ukraine -- now and always."
Ahead of the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the gathering would be attended by at least 14 leaders in person, with a further 20 contributing virtually.
The international show of solidarity came a day after Zelensky sought to demonstrate he "is not a dictator" by offering to step aside in exchange for NATO membership after Trump cast aspersions on his legitimacy as the country's leader.
Zelensky revealed the offer amid a diplomatic impasse with Trump who had called Zelensky a "dictator without elections," ruled out the possibility of NATO membership and accused Ukraine of doing nothing to end a conflict it started.
The Ukrainian president stressed that Trump had a standing invitation to visit and that Ukraine was now ready to accept Trump's demand that Kyiv meet the United States halfway by sharing its major deposits of rare earth minerals -- provided it received certain security guarantees in return.