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Three EU Leaders Visit Kyiv to Support Ukraine

Three European prime ministers visited Kyiv on Tuesday. The prime ministers of neighboring Poland, Czechia and Slovenia came to Ukraine by train for the first such visit by foreign leaders since the Russian invasion.

"It is our duty to be where history is forged. Because it's not about us, but about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny," said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa of Slovenia joined him on the trip.

Fiala said the visit was to show complete "support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."

Explosions, fires in Kyiv

The European leaders arrived in a city still under Russian attack. Buildings were burning and workers were trying to save civilians² from the damaged remains³.

Around half of the 3.4 million people who call Kyiv home have fled. Those who stayed are sheltering in underground stations.

On Tuesday, several powerful explosions rocked Kyiv in the early morning hours. A tall building was burning after being struck by artillery⁴. Firefighters tried to put out the fire and rescue workers helped those trapped inside.

"Yesterday we extinguished one fire, today another. It is very difficult," said a firefighter who gave Associated Press reporters only his first name, Andriy. "People are dying, and the worst thing is that children are dying," he said. "They haven't lived their lives and they have already seen this."

Sitting on the ground outside, Igor Krupa said he survived because he had slept under a shelter of furniture and metal weights. He told Reuters, "All the windows went out and all the debris⁵ went into the apartment."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian artillery hit four buildings in Kyiv and killed several people. He called on Russian troops to surrender. "You will not take anything from Ukraine. You will take lives," he said. "But why should you die? What for? I know that you want to survive."

Around the country

In Mariupol, Russian forces have surrounded the city of 430,000 people for weeks. Local officials estimate the weeks-long attack has killed more than 2,300 people there and left survivors⁶ without food, water, heat and medicine.

Mariupol city officials reported that 2,000 civilian¹ cars were able to leave along a humanitarian⁷ pathway. The pathway runs for more than 260 kilometers west to the city of Zaporizhzhia. They said another 2,000 cars were waiting to leave.

In the east, Russian forces launched more than 60 strikes overnight on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv. Local administration chief Oleh Sinehubov said the strikes hit the city's historical center, including the main marketplace. He said buildings were still burning as rescuers pulled several bodies from the ruins of destroyed apartment buildings.

In the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, officials said 19 people had been killed in a Russian airstrike on a television tower. If confirmed, it would be the worst attack on a civilian target so far in the northwestern part of the country.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv, airstrikes killed nine people on Sunday. People prepared food for soldiers who were waiting for another round of attacks.

"We are bombed during the day and during the night," said Svetlana Gryshchenko, whose soldier son was killed in the fighting. "It's a nightmare what Russia is doing on the territory of Ukraine."

The United Nations says nearly 3 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war.

Protests of the war

The war has led to a complete ban on all independent media and free speech in Russia. But an employee of Russia's state TV Channel One entered a live news broadcast late on Monday and held up an anti-war sign. "Stop the war. No to war," she said. The broadcaster then cut to a different report.

The independent group OVD-Info said the woman, Marina Ovsyannikova, was quickly arrested. She is one of the nearly 15,000 people who have been arrested for protesting what the Russian government describes as a "special military operation."

Words in This Story

forge - v. to form or create

tyranny - n. cruel and unfair treatment by people with power over others

extinguish - v. to stop something from burning

debris - n. pieces that are left after something has been destroyed

nightmare - n. a very bad dream

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

6 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。