European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that civilian deaths in the Ukrainian city of Bucha showed the “cruel face” of Russia’s army, and vowed to try to speed up Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the European Union.
During a visit to Bucha, where forensic investigators began exhuming bodies from a mass grave, von der Leyen appeared to be visibly touched by what she saw in the northwestern city of Kiev, where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed by Russian forces.
Russia denies attacking civilians, and has already called allegations that Russian troops executed civilians in Bucha while occupying the city a “monstrous staging” aimed at defaming the country’s forces.
As EU officials were arriving in Kiev, at least 50 people were killed and many more injured in a missile attack on a train station packed with civilians seeking to flee the threat of a major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
At a news conference, von der Leyen condemned what he called the “cynical behavior” of those who wrote “for our children” on the weapons found at the scene.
The mayor of the city of Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, estimates that around 4,000 people were at the station at the time of the attack. The Reuters news agency was unable to verify what actually happened in Kramatorsk.
Saying the EU could never match Ukraine’s sacrifice, von der Leyen offered a quicker start to the country’s entry into the bloc.
Handing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire that will form a starting point for a decision on joining the bloc, she said: “It will not, as it normally is, take a matter of years to form this opinion, but I believe that a matter of weeks”.
Zelensky said at the same press conference that he will come back with answers within a week.
During the train ride to Kiev, Von der Leyen told reporters that the most important message she was taking to Zelensky was that “there will be the EU way” to Ukraine.
“Our aim is to present Ukraine’s candidacy to the council this summer (June to September in the Northern Hemisphere).”
Six weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission president pledged her support for Kiev to “come out of the war as a democratic country”, something she said the European Union and other donors would help.
It was a message repeated by Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, who also told reporters that the visit was a sign that “Ukraine is in control of its territory” and that the government is still in charge.
“Ukraine is not a dominated country. There is still a government (that) receives people from outside and you can travel to Kiev,” Borrell said, adding that he hoped the EU would offer Kiev another 500 million euros in the coming days.
Source: CNN Brasil
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