STA, 16 March 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša and his Polish and Czech counterparts have arrived safely in Poland back from their trip to Kyiv where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Tuesday evening. Janša thanked for the hospitality and deep insight into the situation provided by the Ukrainian officials.
"The delegations of Poland, Slovenia and Czechia have returned safely from Kyiv to Poland," Piotr Müller, a Polish government's spokesman, has tweeted.
Janša and his Polish and Czech counterparts, Mateusz Morawiecki and Petr Fiala, were the first foreign leaders to visit Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February. They travelled by train.
This is the Europe I want. Thank you Mr @MorawieckiM , Mr @JJansaSDS and Mr @P_Fiala.
— Guglielmo Picchi ???? (@guglielmopicchi) March 15, 2022
While the @Europarl_EN votes against Poland...as true Europeans Poles took 2million refugees and went to Kyiv to meet @ZelenskyyUa.#StandWithUkraine️ pic.twitter.com/hF8SbAetHx
In a post on his Twitter profile on Wednesday Janša thanked Shmyhal for the "warm hospitality in Kyiv in this challenging time and for deep insight into a very complex situation at the variety of battlefields".
He also thanked to the Polish team for taking care of the many challenges before and during the visit.
Morawiecki wrote in a tweet that the Ukrainian people "have reminded the whole of Europe what it means to fight for freedom, what it means to be brave and what greatness really is". He urged giving hope to Ukraine.
The Slovenian government tweeted that the Polish prime minister had thanked Janša on Tuesday for making the initiative to visit Kyiv.
The three prime ministers told reporters after the meeting they had come to express support for Ukraine's fight for freedom and democracy. Zelensky earlier thanked the trio for the "strong sign of support".
"We're here to admire your courage and your fight, which is destroying the myth of the invincible Russian army," Janša said, adding that Ukraine was defending not just its territory but also fundamental European values.
He pledged they would do everything in their power to help Ukraine. He said they were aware what Ukraine currently needed the most was aid in weapons. He also supported EU candidate status for Ukraine.
