Leaders pledge arms and EU path for Ukraine in Kyiv visit

The leaders of four European Union nations visited Ukraine on Thursday, vowing to back Kyiv’s bid to become an official candidate to join the bloc in a high-profile show of support for the country fending off a Russian invasion.

French President Emmanuel Macron also promised Ukraine six more powerful truck-mounted artillery guns, the latest in a new round of Western arms pledges for Ukraine as the war grinds on in the eastern Donbas region.

The leaders “are doing everything so that Ukraine alone can decide its fate,” Macron said at a news conference.

In the face of Kyiv’s fears that Western resolve to help it could wane, the visit by Macron and the leaders of Germany, Italy and Romania carried heavy symbolic weight. The three Western European powers have faced criticism for continuing to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and failing to provide Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that it has said is necessary to fend off the Russians. Romania’s president also made the journey.