By Olena Harmash
KYIV, March 31 (Reuters) – The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas and several EU foreign ministers arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the Bucha massacre and to voice their support for Ukraine, amid tensions within the bloc over EU aid.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha greeted Kallas and other foreign ministers at Kyiv’s central railway station early on Tuesday, saying the European presence demonstrated that justice for Russian atrocities was inevitable.
Kallas, along with around a dozen EU foreign ministers and other senior European officials, visited the small town of Bucha, where Ukrainian officials and rights groups say Russian troops killed more than 400 people.
“Bucha has come to symbolise the cruelty of Russia’s war,” Kallas said on X, posting pictures from the town. “The EU is committed to ensuring that these crimes do not go unpunished… Russia must be held accountable for what it has done to Ukraine.”
EU officials and foreign ministers placed candles at the memorial to the victims of the massacre and visited a church, which hosted a photo and video exhibition.
Moscow denied its troops committed atrocities in Bucha and has accused Ukraine of staging the incident. The U.N. has verified 15,364 civilians killed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though it says the actual number is likely to be higher.
EUROPE TO STAND BY UKRAINE, KALLAS SAYS
“Each visit is a powerful reminder of Ukraine’s courage and resilience,” Kallas, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a post on X.
“Europe stands by your side. We will keep providing military, financial, energy, and humanitarian support.”
Europe is now the main backer for Ukraine as it fights on against a bigger and better-equipped Russian army along more than 1,200 kilometres of the frontline.
However, a 90-billion-euro ($103.23 billion) EU loan for Ukraine has been blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban due to a dispute over the Russian oil transit via Ukraine’s Druzhba oil pipeline. Hungary is also blocking progress on talks about Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Ukrainian officials plan to use the visit of the senior EU officials to Kyiv to focus on increasing accountability for the war crimes. Ahead of the meeting, Sybiha said that eight countries confirmed their readiness to join the enlarged partial agreement for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine – a planned, ad hoc European international criminal tribunal. He said he hoped that number would grow.
“Perhaps more than anywhere else, it is here in Bucha that we feel the future of Europe and Europe’s security are being decided right here – in Ukraine,” Sybiha said. “The current frontline is also a line of international law and the shared values we uphold.”
Moscow has said it will refuse to recognise the special tribunal and will view any country joining it as a hostile act.
Sybiha called on partners to remain focused on the war in Ukraine despite the widening impact of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
Peace talks to end the war in Ukraine have been suspended due to the Middle East war, and officials in Kyiv have expressed concerns that weapons supplies could be diverted away from Ukraine as Western military resources are stretched. Cash-strapped Ukraine is also grappling with rising costs of fuel due to a surge in oil prices.
($1 = 0.8718 euros)
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Sharon Singleton)
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