The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic traveled on Tuesday to the capital of Ukraine, Kiev.
Their visit there follows an invitation from Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“On the way to Kiev at the invitation of President Zelensky” Rama wrote on Facebook.
The Montenegrin government announced on June 12th that its leader, Abazovic, had accepted Zelensky’s invitation.
“Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic will come up with the idea of a joint visit of the Prime Ministers of the Western Balkans to Kiev, especially those who are NATO countries, in order to send a stronger and more united message in support of “Ukraine’s sovereignty and integrity from the Western Balkans” the Montenegrin government wrote in a Twitter post.
PM @DritanAbazovic , accepted the invitation extended by the ?? President, @ZelenskyyUa , to visit the capital of #Ukraine
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1/2 pic.twitter.com/eTxaBlgbRU— Government of Montenegro (@MeGovernment) June 12, 2022
Ukraine has been under Russian occupation since February 24. Currently, fighting is concentrated in the eastern part of this country.
The West has strongly condemned the attack, punishing Russia with harsh economic and diplomatic sanctions. Ukraine, meanwhile, is helping with weapons.
The President of Ukraine, Zelensky, delivered a speech before the Albanian Parliament on May 3. Speaking via video link, he asked the country to close ports to Russian ships and restrict the arrival of Russian tourists.
Both Albania and Montenegro have joined Western sanctions against Russia, as have other Western Balkan countries except Serbia.
In early June, Abazovic sent a letter of support to the people of Ukraine and President Zelensky, where, among other things, he wrote that “Ukraine is defending not only its homeland, but all of Europe, as well as democratic values and norms of civilization, on which the modern world is based ”.