VIENNA — VIENNA (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Austria on Monday in his first commute to the Ecu Union member nation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Austria is famously impartial — a stance it declared in 1955 after International Struggle II — and Vienna has come beneath heavy complaint for the reason that get started of the Russia-Ukraine struggle for keeping up ties with Moscow.
Ukraine’s air drive stated Russia fired 138 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine in a single day, principally on the japanese Donetsk area. Of the ones, 125 had been both intercepted or jammed, whilst 10 reached their goals. 8 others led to harm as falling particles.
Zelenskyy used to be scheduled to satisfy with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Christian Stocker, and the 2 presidents had been set to carry a information convention later Monday.
That is Stocker’s first high-profile talk over with from a overseas dignitary since he took administrative center in March on the head of a up to now untried three-party coalition after a report five-month look ahead to a brand new management.
Zelenskyy’s spouse, First Girl Olena Zelenska, and Doris Schmidauer, Van der Bellen’s partner, can even host a dialogue concerning the function of ladies in selling peace and safety right through the commute.
Austria, which used to be annexed through Nazi Germany within the run-up to International Struggle II, declared neutrality after the struggle beneath drive from Western allies and the Soviet Union. It sought a task as a mediator between East and West, growing ties with Moscow that outlasted the Chilly Struggle.
The Austrian govt has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but additionally wired the want to deal with diplomatic family members with Moscow. Vienna has despatched humanitarian support to Ukraine however no guns.
Former Chancellor Karl Nehammer used to be the primary EU chief to satisfy Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face after the struggle began. Nehammer traveled to Moscow in April 2022 in a fruitless try to convince the Russian chief to finish the invasion.
