Ukraine: The Solts-Macron-Draghi messages from Irpin

The Ukrainian city of Irpin, like Bhutan before it, has become a symbol of the “brutality” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its senseless violence, said German Chancellor Olaf Soltz, who is visiting the Kiev suburb today. and added that the war must end.

Solz and the leaders of France, Italy and Romania are visiting Kyiv, where they will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Irpin, like Butsa, has become a symbol of the unimaginable brutality of the Russian war, of pointless violence,” Soltz wrote on Twitter. “The brutal destruction of this city is a warning: this war must end.”

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a brief visit to Irpin that “Ukraine must be able to resist and win.”

Asked by reporters about his statements, in which he argued that Russia should not be “humiliated” and which were widely criticized in Ukraine, Emanuel Macron stressed that “France is on the side of Ukraine from day one (… “We are unreservedly on the side of the Ukrainians.”

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi assured at the end of his visit to Irpin that “we will rebuild everything”.

The Russians “destroyed kindergartens, playgrounds. Everything will be rebuilt,” Draghi told reporters after walking the streets of Irpin with Macron, Soltz and Romanian President Klaus Johannes.

“A lot of what they (the Ukrainians) told me is about reconstruction,” he said, referring to their “hopes”, “what they want to do in the future.”

According to him, “they have already started”, mainly thanks to an application that “records every part that was destroyed”. So the authorities “know exactly where the places that need to be rebuilt are,” he added, addressing reporters.

Draghi, Macron, Soltz and Johannes then arrived at the Mariinsky Palace in central Kiev, where they were welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The five leaders will have talks before a press conference scheduled for the afternoon.