KYIV | European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was in Kyiv on Thursday for a visit aimed at advancing Ukraine’s EU integration process as its forces gain ground against the Russians.
• Read also: Putin and Xi meet amid tensions with the West
• Read also: Ukraine: Motorist hits President Zelensky’s car
• Read also: Ukrainian cereals must go ‘in priority’ to poor countries, Putin tells Guterres
This visit comes as the Russian and Chinese presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, are meeting for their part on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), touted as an “alternative” to the western alliances.
“In Kyiv for my third visit since the beginning of the Russian war,” said Ms. von der Leyen on Twitter, which however comes for the first time since Ukraine became a candidate state to enter the EU. EU.
According to her, the discussions will focus on how to “bring our economies and our people closer together as Ukraine moves towards accession” to the Union.
The Europeans had endorsed in June the candidacy of Ukraine, which also aims to join NATO. This prospect is perceived as an existential threat by Moscow, which launched under this pretext, among others, an invasion of the country on February 24.
The West has adopted a series of sanctions against Russia in response while providing arms to Kyiv, a crucial support that has enabled it to retake thousands of square kilometers of territory from Russian forces in recent weeks.
However, Ukraine is also pleading for financial support, as its economy has collapsed and the country needs, according to estimates by Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko, five billion dollars a month to cover its budget deficit.
“Active Fights”
On the eve of Mrs von der Leyen’s visit, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the strategic town of Izium recently recaptured from the Russians in the Kharkiv region (north-east), from where he promised the Ukrainians victory”.
He stressed that “almost the entire Kharkiv region is liberated” with the capture of “400 localities”, thanks to a Ukrainian counter-offensive launched in early September.
In the evening of Wednesday, the Russian forces for their part struck with the help of seven missiles of the hydraulic infrastructures, causing a sudden flood of the Ingulets river in Kryvyï Rig, the birthplace of Mr. Zelensky, who denounced an attempt to flood it.
The deputy head of the presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said Thursday on Telegram that 112 houses had been flooded in this city of some 600,000 inhabitants, without there being any victims.
A new strike targeted the city on Thursday, hitting an “industrial enterprise” and causing “serious damage” without causing any casualties, said the head of the local military administration, Oleksandre Vilkoul.
On the eastern front, several towns and villages including Toretsk, Bakhmout, Avdiivka and Chassiv Iar have been bombarded with a toll of two civilians killed and 13 injured in the past 24 hours, according to the count of the presidency.
In Bakhmout, AFP journalists saw a thick plume of smoke on Thursday morning after the strike hit an apartment building overnight. Firefighters were trying to find bodies in the middle of a pile of debris, while the streets were almost deserted, artillery fire being heard.
In the region of Kherson (south), where the Ukrainian forces are also leading a counter-offensive but seem to meet more resistance than in Kharkiv, the situation is “extremely difficult” with “active fighting”, according to the presidency.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have carried out “massive strikes” against Ukrainian forces in the regions of Mykolaiv (south) and Kharkiv (northeast).
Far from Ukraine, the presidents of China Xi Jinping and Russia Vladimir Putin meet for their part on Thursday in Uzbekistan, an opportunity to once again seal their alliance against the West, their countries being each at the heart of diplomatic crises .
Arrived Thursday morning by plane in this former Soviet republic, Mr. Putin was welcomed there on the tarmac by a guard of honor.
Targeted by Western sanctions intended to weaken and isolate Russia, Mr. Putin has been trying since the start of the war in Ukraine to accelerate a pivot towards Asia.