Night train to Kyiv: Air space closed, European leaders roll in for war anniversary

KYIV - A clutch of European leaders rolled into Kyiv’s main train station on the morning of Feb 24 after a night on a VIP train rattling through the Ukrainian countryside.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and leaders from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden were visiting the Ukrainian capital in a well-choreographed show of support on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine’s airspace has been closed since Russia invaded on Feb 24, 2022, leaving visiting officials no other option but the sleeper train, a 10-hour journey that departs from EU member Poland and winds through the west of the war-torn country.

Planes carrying the leaders first touch down at a Polish military airport right next to the border, before heavily-guarded convoys take them to Przemysl station.

The train which Dr von der Leyen and Council president Antonio Costa boarded on Monday has ferried scores of VIPs to Kyiv to pledge their unflinching support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky throughout the war.

On board the train, which an AFP reporter also travelled on, the interior of Dr von der Leyen’s VIP carriage was covered with golden wood panelling.

The entrance to the carriage was guarded by soldiers.

While the method of their travel to Kyiv has not changed in four years, the imagery has.

In April 2022, Dr von der Leyen wore a bulletproof vest and was closely guarded by camouflage-clad soldiers on a visit to Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv where dozens of bodies of civilians were found after a month-long Russian occupation.

Climbing down from the train under Kyiv’s grey skies, she wore a light black coat, a slither of a blue-and-yellow top underneath, the colours of the Ukrainian flag. No armour in sight.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga handed her a small yellow-and-blue bouquet of flowers.

When Costa disembarked in Kyiv in May 2022 during a visit as prime minister of Portugal, he was wearing a flak jacket under his coat and was flanked by two men carrying rifles.

“It was very visible in Bucha and other places that the war was at the door,” he told journalists, including AFP, while en route on Feb 24, recalling his first visit.

“Now the war is on the other side of Ukraine. And this is a proof that Russia didn’t achieve their first goal which was to control entirely Ukraine, to remove the government of Ukraine and occupy all the territory,” he said. AFP