Kyiv – MISSION. “This is my fourth visit to Kyiv and this time I am accompanied by my team of commissioners. It was important for us to go to Kyiv together, because everything we have achieved over the past year was the result of the joint work of this college. And it was important that we went now so we can highlight our support for Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Ursula von der Leyen said this, among other things, in her train car from Poland to the Ukrainian capital late last night. Speaking to European media correspondents, including K, who are accompanying her on this historic visit, she said: “Almost a year after the start of Putin’s invasion, we are more firmly on the side of Ukraine than ever. And we have a lot of work to do together.”

For the first time in history, the College visits a war zone almost in full force. Von der Leyen is traveling with 15 commissioners – those who are most involved in issues related to Ukraine. He will hold meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmigal. Tomorrow he will take part in a trilateral meeting with Zelensky and European Council President Charles Michel, who will also visit Kyiv for the fourth time since the start of the war.

The agenda of the visit will be broad, from the need for immediate support to the economy and the restoration of infrastructures ruthlessly hit by Russian missiles, to the post-war reconstruction package of the country, and the new package of sanctions that are being prepared in connection with the one-year mark from February 24, 2022. , to the processes for the creation of a tribunal, where the political and military leadership of Russia will be held accountable for the many war crimes committed by it.

Much of the consultation will focus on the prospects for Ukraine’s EU membership, where diplomatic sources have expressed concern in recent days about the cultivation of inflated expectations. The Council of Europe, we recall, unanimously approved in June last year the commission’s proposal to grant wintering Ukraine the status of a candidate country for membership.

The Ukrainian government appears to have been caught off guard by its excitement over the decision, and earlier this week Smyhal told (Politico) that he expects his country to join in just two years. Diplomatic representatives, especially from older member states, stressed at last week’s Coreper meetings the need to make clear to Kyiv that there would be no fast-track accession process and that, as one European official put it, “the soundness of the methodology.”

In the next enlargement report, next autumn, “we will assess the progress that Ukraine will make over the course of the year,” said the President of the Commission. “In the spring we will hold an oral briefing on this issue for Member States.”

In addition, both sides are expected to sign a memorandum of cooperation in the field of renewable gas, which will reduce the dependence of the economies of both countries on natural gas. Finally, an official announcement is expected to increase the number of Ukrainian troops participating in the EU training mission.