Top European diplomats travel to Ukrainian capital in show of solidarity

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Top European diplomats traveled to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday in a show of solidarity towards Ukraine, as the country grapples with extensive damage to its infrastructure caused by recent Russian strikes.

“We, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden are in Kyiv today in full solidarity with Ukraine. Despite Russia's bomb rains and barbaric brutality Ukraine will win,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted.

The same message was reiterated by Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics.

The visit of the European foreign ministers came as line breaks and emergency shutdowns were recorded in the Kyiv region due to bad weather and icing, Kyiv Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Kuleba also confirmed the arrival of the foreign ministers in Kyiv, saying in a video on Facebook that they arrived "to discuss further support for Ukraine."

Separately, private Ukrainian energy company DTEK declared that 55% of the capital's subscribers are in emergency shutdown mode and that repair works are ongoing in the energy system.

Over the past week, Russian strikes have hit the infrastructure in multiple regions, including the capital Kyiv, with Ukraine's national energy company Ukrenergo, as a response, announcing emergency shutdowns in all regions "to protect power grids from additional technological accidents and support the operation of the power system."​​​​​​​

Since the Moscow-Kyiv war started in February, Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been the target of Russian airstrikes that increased after an explosion on Oct. 8 damaged the key Kerch Bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.