The President of the Portuguese Republic arrived this Wednesday in the capital of Ukraine at 07:30 local time (05:30 Lisbon) for a two-day visit, which is timed to coincide with the celebration of the 32nd anniversary of independence. countries.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa disembarked at the Kiev-Pasazhyrsky railway station in Kiev, accompanied by Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho, head of the Presidential Chamber Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, ambassadors Maria Amelia Paiva and Jorge Silva López, former PS leader João Soares, historian José Pacheco Pereira and businessman Luis Delgado.
The head of state is the third high-ranking official of the Portuguese state who visited Ukraine after the visit of Prime Minister António Costa on May 21, 2022 and President of the Assembly of the Republic Augusto Santos Silva. , at the beginning about three and a half months ago.
On Tuesday, the president of the republic asked the parliament for permission to travel to Ukraine during this week.
The visit of the President of the Republic took place after an invitation made by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during Antonio Costa’s visit to Kyiv.
“I am the bearer of the invitation that President Zelensky sent to His Excellency the President of the Republic to visit Ukraine at the right moment. And this is the invitation that I will convey,” the Prime Minister of Portugal said immediately after the meeting with the President of Ukraine.
On the very day the invitation was announced, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza stated that he would be “very happy” to make a trip to the Ukrainian capital to demonstrate the presence of “convergence in support” for the country, which for more than a year and a half has been sent to repulse the invasion of Russia.
On February 22 this year, the head of the Portuguese state announced his intention to personally award Zelensky with the Great Collar of the Order of Liberty: “I intend to present Zelensky with the Great Collar of the Order of Liberty.” [a condecoração] personally when traveling to Ukraine. I did the same with the heads of state and other persons awarded this order and other orders.
The President of the Republic will see a city transformed from the one António Costa crossed just two months after the start of the Russian invasion.
The streets are full of people, the restaurants and terraces are full, and a seeming sense of normality in everyday life has replaced an almost deserted city and an underlying fear in every inhabitant of bombing at any moment in the first months.
For security reasons, the presidency of the republic did not disclose details about a possible meeting between Marcelo and his Ukrainian counterpart and about what would be part of the route through the country’s capital.
The visit of the President of the Republic is timed to coincide with the celebration of the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. The participation of representatives of other countries is expected, which from the first day support the Ukrainians against the “special operation”, as the Kremlin calls it.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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