Before the ceremony and the serious meetings about war, the European leaders witnessed the devastation wrought by Russia. A must. To understand Ukraine's fight for survival, they had to see it themselves, with their own eyes.
The blown up buildings. The smashed cars. And a message of hope spray-painted on a damaged building despite mounting Ukrainian deaths.
French President Emmanuel Macron spotted it immediately amid the ruins Thursday.
바카라Look at that, Make Europe, not war,'바카라 Macron said, pointing and reading the words out loud in English. 바카라It's very moving to see that.바카라
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania had a walking tour of Irpin, a small city which bore the full brunt of Russia's failed assault on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the first weeks of the war.Â
The tour preceded a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met them wearing army green pants, a matching T-shirt and sneakers.
If the four hadn't fully grasped the scale of the horrors inflicted by the Russian invasion, ravages like the ones visited across much of Europe during World War I and World War II, then Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Premier Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have no excuses now.
The leaders travelled by overnight train to the Ukrainian capital because flights aren't possible in the wartime airspace where missiles, drones, fighter jets and helicopters have rained down death and destruction.Â
Iohannis, whose country has been a key destination for Ukrainian refugees, travelled separately from the others.
Standing out in their suits and ties amid the heavily armed soldiers guarding them, they heard from a Ukrainian government minister how Russian soldiers fired indiscriminately at families in cars and how the blowing up of bridges had blocked escape routes, locking people in a furnace of death and fighting.
바카라How many cities do you have in such a situation?바카라 Macron asked.
바카라Hundreds,바카라 Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukraine's minister for communities and territories development, replied.
바카라They were shooting into the families, children, women바카라 as they tried to flee the fighting, the minister said.Â
바카라They were just deliberately killing people inside the cars.바카라
Macron wanted to understand how troops could do such things.
바카라How do you explain this?바카라 he asked.
Chernyshov explained that some of the killers appeared to have been ordinary young soldiers and others appeared to have been special forces from the Caucasus region, which lies between the Black and Caspian seas.Â
Moscow has deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to Ukraine.
바카라We have hundreds of these cases, I am sorry to say. They are still going on,바카라 he said.
The devastated buildings with their innards blown out that the chancellor, the premier and the presidents walked past are just a fraction of the destruction in Ukraine after nearly four months of fighting.
The official said more than 12,000 apartment buildings have been destroyed so far. Add to that electricity substations, heating plants, roads, bridges, schools, churches.
바카라You name it,바카라 the minister said. 바카라A lot of things to be rebuilt.바카라
The leaders wanted to know more.
How was the Russian advance going now? Scholz asked.
Macron wanted to know whether additional forces were being massed in Belarus, posing another possible threat to Ukraine.
바카라We think yes,바카라 Chernyshov said.
Macron was clearly moved. He called Irpin, which Ukrainian forces retook as Russian troops retreated from around Kyiv, 바카라a heroic town.바카라
 바카라This is where the Ukrainians stopped the Russian army,바카라 he said.
The French leader said Irpin bore 바카라the traces of barbary.바카라
바카라Massacres were carried out.바카라 he said. 바카라We have the first traces of what are war crimes.바카라
So now they know: With their own eyes.
