President Zelensky Should Insist: Travel By Air, Not Rail. President Of France, Chancellor Of Germany, Prime Minister Of Italy May Visit Kyiv Before G7 Summit And NATO Summit. Turkish Airlines Next?
Within the next two weeks, reportedly as soon as 16 June 2022, Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Republic of Germany; and Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy, are reported to be planning a group visit to the capital of Ukraine, the city of Kyiv.
The visit will reinforce resolve. The visit will demonstrate collective engagement. The visit is an opportunity for each leader to confront risk.
Rather than travel by Ukrainian Railways in an executive carriage for a an approximately fourteen-hour round-trip journey from the Ukraine border with Poland to Kyiv, and returning by the same route, the head of state and heads of government should travel by air and land their official aircraft at Boryspil International Airport (KBP/UKBB) or Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (IEV/UKKK).
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, should insist upon travel by air- doing so will demonstrate that progress by the government of Ukraine in controlling its airspace and, critically, will provide an incentive for regularly-scheduled commercial airlines and cargo airlines to resume service to Ukraine.
If the government of Ukraine needs to make repairs to runways and other infrastructure for initially only daylight use, then those repairs should commence without delay.
If a United States-sourced MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system and/or a State of Israel-sourced Iron Dome air defense system needs to be deployed, then the components should immediately be delivered to the selected airport.
After the visit by President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, and Prime Minister Draghi, both El Al Airlines and Turkish Airlines should return to Kyiv with limited services operating in daylight.
After the visit by President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, and Prime Minister Draghi, both El Al Airlines and Turkish Airlines should return to Kyiv with limited services operating in daylight. If Turkish Airlines can provide service from Istanbul to Moscow, then it should provide service from Istanbul to Kyiv and Istanbul to the city of Minsk, capital of Belarus. The government of the Russian Federation, which benefits from Turkish Airlines services, should guarantee no obstacles to Turkish Airlines services to Kyiv and Minsk. The government of Ukraine and the EU should open their respective airspace to Turkish Airlines flights to Kyiv, Minsk, and Moscow.
The visit by President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, and Prime Minister Draghi is reported to take place prior to G7 Summit (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States) scheduled for 27 June 2022 to 28 June 2022 in Schloss Elmau, Krun, Bavarian Alps, Germany; and prior to the NATO Summit scheduled for 28 June 2022 to 30 June 2022 in Madrid, Spain. NATO members: United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Turkey, Latvia, and North Macedonia.
France, Germany, and Italy are among the twenty-seven members of the Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU) and among members of the thirty-member Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). EU members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked areas within the territory of Ukraine. From 24 February 2022 through 14 March 2022, government officials from other countries did not travel to Ukraine.
Since 15 March 2022 four presidents (one twice), eight prime ministers, one chancellor, three deputy prime minister, ten foreign ministers, one secretary of state, two secretaries of defense, president of European Commission (EC)(twice), president of the European Council (EC), president of European Parliament (EP), speaker of the United States House of Representatives, a first lady, have visited Ukraine. Members of the United States Senate, Members of the United States House of Representatives, and members of Parliaments have also visited Ukraine.
Each of these individuals, accompanied by their respective staff and security detail, traveled from Poland into Ukraine by train, in a VIP carriage complete with bedrooms and meeting rooms.
XX June 2022 (Kyiv)- Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Republic of Germany; Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy
11 June 2022 (Kyiv)- President of the Brussels, Belgium-based European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, second visit
9 June 2022 (Kyiv)- Ben Wallace, Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom
30 May 2022- (crossed into Ukraine at border with Moldova) Rob Portman (R- Ohio), United States Senate
22 May 2022- (Kyiv) President of Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda (EU, NATO). First visit 13 April 2022
14 May 2022 (Kyiv)- Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Minority Leader of the United States Senate; Susan Collins (R-Maine), United States Senate; John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), United States Senate; John Cornyn (R-Texas), United States Senate
10 May 2022 (Kyiv)- Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany; Wopke Hoekstra, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
9 May 2022 (Odesa)- Charles Michel, President of European Council (EC), second visit to Ukraine
8 May 2022 (Kyiv)- Anniken Huitfeldt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway
8 May 2022 (Kyiv)- Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada; Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister; Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Larisa Galadza, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine
8 May 2022 (Uzhhorod)- Dr. Jill Biden, Ph.D., First Lady of the United States, wife of Joseph Biden, 46th President of the United States
6 May 2022 (Kyiv)- Eva-Maria Liimets, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia; Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia; Gabrielius Landsbergis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
30 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives accompanied by Democratic Party Representatives Gregory Meeks, Representative Adam Schiff, Representative James McGovern, Representative Jason Crow, Representative Barbara Lee, Representative William Keating
28 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the 193-member United Nations
24 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State (NATO), and Lloyd Austin, United States Secretary of Defense
21 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain (EU, NATO); Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Kingdom Denmark (EU, NATO)
20 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Charles Michel, President of the European Council (EC)
13 April 2022 (Kyiv)- President of Republic of Estonia, Alar Karis (EU, NATO); President of Republic of Latvia, Egils Levits (EU, NATO); President of Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda (EU, NATO); President of Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda (EU, NATO)
10 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Boris Johnson (NATO)
9 April 2022 (Kyiv)- Chancellor of Republic of Austria, Karl Nehammer (EU)
7 April 2022 (Kyiv)- President of the Brussels, Belgium-based European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen; High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EC, Josep Borrell Fontelles; Prime Minister of Slovak Republic, Eduard Heger (EU, NATO)
3 April 2022 (Odesa)- Minister Of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Nikoloas Dendias (EU, NATO)
1 April 2022 (Kyiv)- President of the Strasbourg, France-based European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola
17 March 2022 (Lviv)- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu (NATO)
15 March 2022 (Kyiv)- Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Petr Fiala (EU, NATO); Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki (EU, NATO); Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa (EU, NATO); Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski (EU, NATO)
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