Stano: After making Kyiv target to missile attacks, Putin gives African leaders special greeting, demonstrating his real intentions
By "welcoming" African leaders in Kyiv with missile attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown his real intentions to seek peace, European Commission Lead Spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano has said, commenting on the visit of African leaders to the capital of Ukraine, which was subjected to yet another missile attacks by ruschists.
African leaders will not only visit Moscow this weekend, they are staying in Kyiv now. And they were greeted in a very special way – with more missile attacks from Putin, he said. He said that this will help them realize very clearly who the aggressor is, how he is behaving and what are his real intentions, he said in Brussels on Friday, commenting on the visit of African leaders to the capital of Ukraine, which was a target for another missile attack from Russia.
Stano reminded that the EU commends any significant efforts aimed at achieving peace. No one wants peace more than Ukrainians and Europeans. But for this to happen, one need to talk to the victims of aggression, he said. Therefore, it is very good that African leaders are now in Kyiv, one year and four months after the full-scale invasion. It is very good to hear and see from first-hand position, perspective and experience of the victims. As he said, Putin prepared (for African leaders) a very similar greeting, similar to those he made many times before during foreign visits to Kyiv. For example, in April 2022, UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived to Kyiv, and again Kyiv was under fire from missiles and drones sent by the Kremlin. Peace can come immediately when Putin stops terrorizing the Ukrainian people and withdraws his troops who kill, torture and loot from Ukrainian territory, the European Commission representative said, explaining his position.
He reiterated that the EU sincerely hopes that African leaders are aware of this and that they will see it. Once again, the EU applauds all efforts that are sincerely aimed at achieving peace. But again, what happened today and it is very clear also to African leaders in terms of how truthful Putin is to stop the war, and how he regards all international efforts to stop this war, Stano said.
