“I’m on my way to kyiv”, wrote in English and Ukrainian this Thursday Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament. The message, with a Ukrainian flag and a hashtag of support for the invaded country, and a photo of her bundled up in a jacket in front of what appears to be a train car, was posted on Twitter in the evening.
Arriving at her destination, she would be the first leader of a European institution to visit the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Before her, three Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers had already traveled to kyiv on March 15 to show their solidarity with Ukraine. They had met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Prime Minister Denys Chmygal.
On Thursday, Russia announced that it would ban entry into its territory for European leaders and the majority of MEPs, in response to punitive measures targeting Moscow. Russian diplomacy has not published the list of people targeted, but said it had informed the European representation in Moscow of this measure.