Polish, Czech and Slovenian leaders back in Poland after defiant visit to Kyiv

WARSAW • The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have returned to Poland after their visit to Kyiv, a government spokesman said yesterday.

"The Polish, Slovenian and Czech delegations safely returned from Kyiv to Poland," Mr Piotr Muller wrote on Twitter.

The three leaders had travelled to the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday in a defiant show of support for President Volodymyr Zelensky, who briefed them on the war with Russia.

The three, who travelled by train, were the first foreign leaders to visit the capital since Russia invaded last month.

"Your visit to Kyiv at this difficult time for Ukraine is a strong sign of support. We really appreciate it," Mr Zelensky said in an online post, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal hailed what he said was the "courage of true friends".

Brief footage released by Mr Zelensky's office showed him speaking in Ukrainian and English to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, their Czech counterpart Petr Fiala and Slovenia's leader Janez Jansa.

Also present was Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the country's ruling PiS party, who is seen as the main decision-maker in the country.

The visit by the three prime ministers, which unfolded in tight secrecy as they crossed the Ukrainian border by train after dawn, was a strikingly personal gesture.

But it caught other European leaders off guard, angering some and baring uncomfortable divisions in how best to demonstrate Western solidarity with Ukraine.

It also came as President Vladimir Putin of Russia disparaged the second consecutive day of negotiations with Ukraine, undercutting the faint glimmers of hope raised from talks the day before that both sides were looking for a way to halt the war.

A spokesman for Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki said the three prime ministers were "de facto" representing the European Union in Ukraine.

Czech Prime Minister Fiala said the decision to visit was taken in consultation with European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

In Brussels, however, officials said the trio did not have the EU's blessing.

But others said they admired the audacity of the group, casting it as a powerful symbol of the backing for Ukraine among countries on Europe's eastern flank, where the spectre of Russian aggression looms larger than in Paris or London.

The Czech Republic and Poland, former communist countries, are EU and Nato members and have been among the strongest backers of Ukraine in Europe since the Russian invasion.

NYTIMES, REUTERS