Senior European officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, in what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted was a demonstration “that the EU stands by Ukraine as firmly as ever.” The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced that the bloc would double the number of Ukrainian soldiers it trains, and it pledged about $27 million to fund demining efforts.
E.U. leaders will take part in a wartime summit with Ukraine on Friday, which Kyiv hopes will help its bid to become a member of the bloc. However, E.U. officials are unlikely to offer Ukraine any concrete promises during the meeting, and full membership is likely to be years, if not decades, away.
In a speech in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet army’s victory over Nazi German forces there, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed victory in Ukraine, continuing to build on a line of rhetoric that has suffused his remarks since the invasion of Ukraine, casting the Ukrainian government as Nazis and calling on the popular memory of Russia’s World War II history to bolster support for the war with Ukraine. The potential of German Leopard tanks engaging with Russian forces has lent new force to this propaganda narrative.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
4. From our correspondents
But the delegation that arrived in Ukraine is unlikely to offer any concrete promises on these demands — and is instead expected to yield photo ops and a statement praising Ukrainian efforts, Emily Rauhala reports.
E.U. officials “have created expectations, especially when it comes to accession, that are not in reach, to be honest,” said one E.U. diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid.
Andrew Jeong
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