Politico: number of European leaders refused to travel to Kiev on May 9th
European leaders including the French President, the prime ministers of the UK and Poland and the likely future Chancellor of Germany decided not to travel to Kiev on May 9th, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Politico publication
“Ukraine had invited European leaders on May 9th for a summit to to confront the picture of a Victory Day parade in Moscow. But Polish PM Donald Tusk will instead head to Nancy that day to sign a security treaty with President Emmanuel Macron, while British PM Keir Starmer plans to attend a defence summit in Oslo. And incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doesn’t want to go without the full posse,” the publication reads.
European leaders are trying to choose another date for their trip to Ukraine: ‘in the first or second week of [Merz’s] chancellorship’, Politico informs, citing a CDU source. Nevertheless, the EU foreign ministers might still go to Lvov on May 9th.
The Ukrainian authorities invited European leaders and high-ranking officials to Kiev on May 9th to demonstrate a ‘counterweight to Russia’ and divert attention from Moscow, where a parade in honour of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory will be held.
In 2023, Volodymyr Zelenskyy postponed the celebration of Victory Day in WWII from May 9th to May 8th, calling it the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism. After that, May 9th became Europe Day in Ukraine.
