Spanish PM Sanchez reaches Kyiv to kick off Madrid's EU presidency

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that he reached Kyiv early on Saturday to hold talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as the country kicked off its European Union's presidency.

"In Kyiv already. I wanted the first act of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union to be in Ukraine" with its president, wrote Sanchez on his official Twitter account, stating he would convey "all of Europe's solidarity".

"We will keep supporting the Ukrainian people until peace returns to Europe," added the prime minister, who had announced his visit during an EU summit on Thursday, claiming that its aim was to show the "unfaltering support" of the EU for Kyiv as it continues to battle the Russian invasion.

A year ago, Ukraine was given the EU candidacy status and this year, it hopes to start formal negotiations on what it is required to do to firm up its membership bid.

Kyiv plans to win over LatAm through Spain's presidency

Ukraine has been hoping to use the EU presidency of Spain to try to "gain influence" in Latin America, where many countries have opposed the efforts of Kyiv to retake territories which have been occupied by Russia, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, while speaking to Spanish media.

Speaking on Friday, Zelensky said that the invitation to participate in an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels on July 17-18 was extended to him by Sanchez, however, many unspecified countries had blocked it.

"We have a peace formula, and Pedro has supported us a lot. He has a constant dialogue with Latin America and they listen to him, it's a fact. But I'll say frankly that some Latin American countries are blocking the decision and this invitation," he stated, in remarks from Kyiv which aired by state broadcaster TVE.

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"I want them not only to join the peace formula but to stand against war," he stated. Earlier this year, Western countries were irritated by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he stated that the West had been "encouraging" war by arming Ukraine.

Zelensky, in the interview, also appealed for a concrete plan for Ukraine to join NATO. Kyiv has been working with allies to get major international support for a peace blueprint, without any territorial compromises.

Senior officials from the EU, Ukraine, G7 countries, and nations like Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey held a meeting on Saturday in Denmark to discuss the concept and stated that some progress was made by them, however, any summit for endorsing a document was at least months away.

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