“Ukrainian people are holding up a torch of freedom for all of us” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on April 8, 2022.
She has told that the European Union will continue to support Kyiv by making Russian President Vladimir Putin pay a “heavy price” for his war.
“Russia will descend into economic, financial, and technological decay, while Ukraine is marching towards the European future. This is what I see,” von der Leyen said.
During the briefing, Ursula von der Leyen pledged to speed up Kyiv’s bid to join the EU, handing Zelenskyy a questionnaire to launch the process.
“It will not, as usual, be a matter of years to form this opinion [on membership], but I think a matter of weeks,” she said, pledging to keep up the economic and diplomatic pressure on Moscow.
Before meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Ursula von der Leyen visited Bucha, where earlier hundreds of civilians had been found dead. People were tortured and shot dead by Russian soldiers. The city was under the control of Russians since the beginning of the full-scale war.
