KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Western leaders descended on Kyiv Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled overnight to Kyiv by train along with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
They arrived shortly after a Russian drone attack struck a residential building in the southern city of Odesa, killing at least one person. Three women also sustained severe burns in the attack Friday evening on a residential building, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on his social media account. Rescue services are still combing rubble looking for survivors.
The foreign leaders are in Ukraine to express solidarity as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and weaponry and Western aid hangs in the balance.
“More than ever we stand firmly by Ukraine. Financially, economically, militarily, morally. Until the country is finally free,” von der Leyen said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after she arrived in Kyiv.
But, at the front line in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers pleaded for ammunition.
“When the enemy comes in, a lot of our guys die. … We are sitting here with nothing, said Volodymyr, 27, a senior officer in an artillery battery.
“In order to protect our infantry … we need a high number of shells, which we do not have now,” said…
