Polish, Slovenian and Czech prime ministers travel to Kiev to show EU backing as Russian offensive continues

Zelenski admits Ukraine can't join NATO

photo_camera AFP PHOTO / Ukrainian presidential press service - Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky delivers a video address in Kiev on 15 March 2022

Ukraine is holding out twenty days after the Russian invasion in the face of a heavy siege and relentless shelling of the country's main enclaves. Some 2,000 people have reportedly died during the attacks and more than two million have fled their homes since the aggression began. The Russian offensive is proceeding more slowly than expected, prompting Moscow to keep the negotiating table with Kiev. But dialogue does not guarantee a truce.

"It has become clear that Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We understand that," Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky told NATO officials during a video-conference meeting. "For years we have heard that the doors were supposed to be open, but we have seen that we can't get in," said the statesman-like president, who in recent days has been vocal in his disappointment with the Atlantic Alliance.

The Ukrainian leader has made an insistent request to NATO members: the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine. A demand that would curb Russia's attacks, which are proving devastating for the resistance, but which would involve the direct participation of Western countries and elevate the conflict to an international scale. A scenario that NATO is not willing to take on.

Bomberos Ucrania

"Our people understand that we can't go in, and we are starting to rely on our own force", Zelenski finally acknowledged, taking the opportunity to ask for more military aid. Thus closing a window of opportunity that opened at the beginning of the century during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma and which went through different stages of rapprochement, with Yuschenko and Poroshenko, and distancing, with Yanukovych. An unviable accession in the short to medium term.

The Ukrainian president appealed to enemy forces and Russian citizens. "As long as your country does not completely close itself off from the world, turning into a big North Korea, you must fight. You must not miss your chance," Zelensky told the Russian people in their language, and took the opportunity to praise journalist Marina Ovsianikova, who was arrested after breaking into a live news broadcast with a banner denouncing Kremlin propaganda.

But the Ukrainian president's words did not stop the attacks. Throughout Tuesday there has been a succession of shelling of residential areas near the capital, Kiev, and exchanges of fire on the front line. Russian forces are advancing positions on the northern, eastern and southern fronts, and are maintaining the siege against the cities of Mariupol, Dnipro and Mykolaiv. This advance has been slowed by strong Ukrainian resistance.

Three European leaders in Kiev

The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia travelled to Kiev on Tuesday to show solidarity with Ukraine. In the midst of air strikes on the outskirts of the capital, Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa travelled 'motu proprio', without the express order of the EU-27, to symbolise the full support of two nations that share a direct border with Ukraine and a third that has led the toughest European stance against Russia.

Polonia Morawiecki

Morawiecki, perhaps the European leader with the most forceful profile in the defence of Ukraine, told his counterparts of his intention to visit the country during the Versailles summit, organised last week by French President Emmanuel Macron, and confirmed the trip hours before leaving with his Czech and Slovenian partners. However, the announcement was not made public until the train carrying the three heads of government had departed.

According to the Polish prime minister's office, the delegation would have a face-to-face meeting with Volodymir Zelenski and his prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. The aim is to demonstrate 'the European Union's unequivocal support for Ukraine's sovereignty and independence', a position advocated by Morawiecki, Fiala and Jansa, who together with the Baltic states have been trying to convince EU members to tighten sanctions and send more military support. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Ukrainian government held the fourth round of negotiations with the Russian delegation via video conference. According to President Zelenski's right-hand man, Mykhailo Podoliyak, the parties are negotiating the establishment of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian soil. These demands are currently a pipe dream.

More in Politics