French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President paid a joint visit today (Thursday) to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, during which they met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalansky and visited the city of Irpin, where 200 were killed and tortured. -300 citizens.
German Chancellor Schultz said the massacre in Irpin was a symbol of the inconceivable cruelty of the Russian invasion, whose whole purpose was to bring about the destruction and occupation of territories, without regard to human life. The Italian prime minister, too, expressed astonishment at the destruction left by the Russian army in the city, adding that “we will rebuild everything. They have destroyed the kindergartens and parks, but everything will be rebuilt.”
The French president, for his part, said the visit was a message to the Ukrainians that the Europeans are united in their support for them now and in the future, noting that the coming weeks will be very difficult. He later tweeted that his country would continue to provide Ukraine with economic, military and humanitarian aid in order to lead to victories on the battlefield in the face of attacks by the Russian military.
The Ukrainian defense minister said that the number of Ukrainians who have died since Russia invaded the country last February is estimated at tens of thousands, adding that he “hopes” the figure is less than 100,000. The US communications minister was also interviewed and said that according to documents found on the body of a Russian officer killed in the war, it appears that Russia expected Kiev to fall within 12 hours of the invasion, and the Russians believed that the Kiev government would leave the capital after only 72 hours.
Meanwhile, the Dutch intelligence services announced that they had managed to prevent a Russian spy from accessing the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The spy, who impersonated an intern and worked under a Brazilian identity, was found to be affiliated with the Russian intelligence network. The Dutch said that if he had succeeded in his mission, he would have been able to influence the court’s digital systems, as well as the criminal proceedings that are being conducted, among other things, against the war crimes being committed in Ukraine.