At 18.10 Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who is making an official visit to Greece, at the Maximos Palace. The visit was announced at the last minute for security reasons, while at 19:50′, the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou welcomed the Ukrainian President.
At the Maximos Palace, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Volodymyr Zelensky had the chance to talk, while an extended meeting with the participation of delegations followed, while the two leaders then made statements to the press.
Volodymyr Zelensky is making his first official visit to Greece – and the first since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as it has been pending since Spring 2021 – following the invitation addressed to him by Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
At the same time, in Athens, Zelensky will meet for the first time at the informal dinner organized by the Prime Minister with the leaders of the region, in the presence of the EU leadership.
The summit dinner transmits through Greece a strong message of support for Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic perspective of the entire region and an even stronger message that this road for the entire region passes through Athens.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis repeated that Greece, which supported Ukraine from the beginning, will continue to support Ukraine and its Euro-Atlantic perspective.
It is recalled that following NATO’s decisions – both at the Madrid Summit and in Vilnius – Greece joined the Declaration of the G7 leaders on support for Ukraine – in which the decisions of the Alliance are repeated and the continuation of support for Ukraine is reaffirmed.
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According to government sources, the timing of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Athens, which was organized under conditions of secrecy for security reasons, on the day of the arrival of regional leaders at the invitation of the prime minister, is no coincidence and highlights Greece’s pivotal role in the region and the Euro-Atlantic perspective of both the Balkans and the wider “Eastern Neighborhood” (the President of Moldova will also be present), as Athens becomes the meeting bridge that brings together all the leaders of the region from the Balkans to Ukraine.
Zelensky at the informal dinner
In the evening, the President of Ukraine participates in the informal dinner organized by Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Palace with the participation of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel. The dinner was attended by:
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic,
President of Moldova Maia Sandu,
President of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic,
Prime Minister of Romania Ion-Marcel Ciolacu,
Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti,
President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo,
Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski,
Prime Minister of Bulgaria Nikolai Denkov,
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
