Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) and his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky visited the airport in the Kiev suburb of Hostomel on Wednesday and then the city of Irpin. In Irpin, faced with the numerous ruins of residential buildings, Schallenberg emphasized that these photos “get under your skin”. As an Austrian you have to realize that all this happened “in the immediate vicinity”, a few hours by train from Vienna.
“It also shows something, as we saw earlier at the airport, how massively the Russian Federation, especially Vladimir Putin, has miscalculated.” The Russian troops actually thought that “they would be welcomed with bread and salt and not be shot at her”.
‘Ukraine defended itself heroically’
This shows how heroically Ukraine defended itself, but also that war is never a nice thing. “War is horrible, war is dead, war is destruction,” the foreign minister said.
Irpin: 75% of residents returned
The mayor of Irpin, Oleksandar Markushin, told foreign ministers that 95 percent of residents of Irpin, a city of about 100,000, had fled the community during the fighting. 75% of the residents have now returned.
“If we hadn’t won the battle of Irpin, there would have been fighting in Kiev,” said Markushin. He asked Schallenberg to help with the reconstruction, as more than 100 buildings in the city, including schools and kindergartens, as well as numerous residential buildings had been completely destroyed. Schallenberg promised to help “bring people back into perspective whenever possible.”
In Hostomel, the international cargo and factory airport was taken by Russian landing troops on the first day of the aggressive war, and a few hours later the Ukrainians recaptured it.
The only airworthy example of the Antonov An-225
The fighting that brought the airport back into Russian hands destroyed much of its infrastructure, as well as the only airworthy example of the Antonov An-225 – the world’s longest aircraft and the pride of Ukrainian aviation. Many destroyed warehouses can be seen during the on-site inspection, and a commander explained the course of the fighting to foreign ministers.
In the afternoon, the two foreign ministers will meet Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and their counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev. This is followed by a press conference with Kuleba. The trip to Ukraine was actually planned in the so-called Slavkov format (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia), but Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok had to cancel at short notice due to a corona disease.
Source: Krone
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