KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada visited Ukraine's capital Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion in a show of support for Kyiv by some of the nation at war's most important backers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the visitors greeted at the train station by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and the president's chief of staff Andrii Yermak.
In a post on X, von der Leyen wrote that Europe was in Kyiv “because Ukraine is in 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.
The guests, also including European Council President Antonio Costa as well as the prime ministers of Northern European countries and Spain, were set to attend events dedicated to the anniversary and discuss supporting Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid a recent U.S. policy shift under President Donald Trump.
In the latest sign of Europe's efforts to rework its strategy on Ukraine to respond to Trump's actions, Costa on Sunday announced that he would convene an emergency summit of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels on March 6, with Ukraine at the top of the agenda.
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” Costa said in a post on social media.
The three-year mark of the war in Ukraine came at a sensitive moment for Kyiv as Zelenskyy navigates a rapidly changing international environment upended by Trump's changes to the U.S. approach to the war.
The U.S. leader has sought to follow through on his campaign promises to end the war quickly, though his methods for doing so have alarmed many in Ukraine and Europe who believe that his approach is too conciliatory toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
Russia's foreign ministry said Saturday that preparations for a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin were underway, and U.S. officials have said that they had agreed with Moscow to reestablish diplomatic ties and restart economic cooperation.
And on Sunday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state TASS news agency that Moscow and Washington would continue bilateral talks at the end of next week, adding that “quite a lot” of contact was ongoing between the Russian and American sides.
Leaders across the EU, fearing both that Trump's approach to Ukraine would lead to an unfavorable settlement for Kyiv and that they — among Ukraine's most important supporters — would be sidelined in negotiation for peace, have rushed to assert their own response to the rapidly shifting environment.
The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, insisted on Monday that the U.S. cannot seal any peace deal to end the war without Ukraine or Europe being involved. She highlighted what she claimed were pro-Russian positions being taken up by the Trump administration.
“You can discuss whatever you want with Putin. But if it comes to Europe or Ukraine, then Ukraine and Europe also have to agree to this deal,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels, where she is chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Kallas travels to Washington on Tuesday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Asked whether the U.S. administration is acting in the interests of Russia or Ukraine’s Western backers, she said: “If you look at the messages that come from the United States, then it’s clear that the Russian narrative is there very strongly represented.”
Kallas rejected Trump’s earlier inflammatory assertion that Zelenskyy was a dictator for not having held elections after his regular term expired last year, saying, “Russia hasn’t had elections in 25 years."
Ukrainian law prohibits elections being held while martial law is in place, and Zelenksyy said as recently as Sunday that after martial law is lifted “there will be elections and people will make their choice.”
Coming off a victory in Sunday's German elections, conservative leader Friedrich Merz – also a staunch backer of Ukraine — posted on X Monday: “More than ever, we must put Ukraine in a position of strength.“
"For a fair peace, the country that is under attack must be part of peace negotiations,” Merz wrote.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a video message, parts of which were being aired on Ukrainian television, that “peace and freedom in Europe demand of us that we support Ukraine resolutely,” and said Germany would not ease up on its humanitarian and military support for Kyiv for "as long as this illegal war lasts.”
The U.K. was expected to announce new sanctions against Russia on Monday, having earlier described them as the biggest package since the early days of the war. Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Sunday said the measures would be aimed at eroding Russia’s “military machine and reducing revenues fueling the fires of destruction in Ukraine.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were to both visit Washington this week as Europe attempts to persuade Trump not to abandon Ukraine in pursuit of a peace deal.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian air defenses downed 113 drones launched by Russia at 12 regions overnight with another 71 “lost” according to the daily air force report.
The report said that as a result of the attack, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Kyiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions “suffered,” but did not provide further details.
On Sunday, the eve of the war's three-year anniversary, Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 267 drones into Ukraine overnight, more than in any other single attack of the war.
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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Justin Spike, The Associated Press
