Taoiseach holds meeting with President Zelenskiy in Kyiv
By PA
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
The leaders met in Mr Zelensky’s heavily fortified offices in the city to discuss the war and Irish and EU efforts to support Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.
After viewing the war-scarred suburbs of Borodyanka, Bucha and Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, The Taoiseach tweeted: “It is difficult to comprehend the devastation and inhumanity of Russia’s attacks on Irpin, Borodyanka and Bucha.
“Clear how important it is for women and children to get to Ireland to escape trauma and brutality. We stand with Ukraine.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has visited the site of a mass grave in Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The grave was discovered in the grounds of the Church of Saint Andrew the First.
A local cleric showed him the site and an associated exhibition of graphic photographs of exhumed bodies and pictures of people found shot dead on the streets of the suburb when Russian forces retreated.
The Irish delegation then travelled to nearby Irpin where the Taoiseach was shown badly-damaged apartment blocks that had taken the brunt of Russian shells.
Micheál Martin began his visit to Ukraine with a trip to Borodyanka – a town on the outskirts of Kyiv that has suffered widespread damage under Russian shelling.
On the 30-minute drive from the railway station, the Taoiseach passed Hostomel airport, where his convoy stopped to observe a demolished bridge.
The delegation also drove past bombed-out warehouses, shopping centres and petrol stations.
Visited the Holodomor Memorial in Kyiv.
Both Ukraine and Ireland know the suffering and pain of famine.
Russia must not be allowed to use food as a weapon in this immoral and unjustified war. pic.twitter.com/gAgY8jYqFf— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) July 6, 2022
The scale of Ukrainian efforts to defend their capital was evident, with numerous bunkers and fortifications visible on the journey.
Prior to the talks with the Ukrainian president, The Taoiseach visited a museum in Kyiv that is exhibiting items from the war, including damaged Russian military vehicles and missile fragments.
He placed a teddy bear at a nearby memorial to the children killed in the conflict so far.
Mr Martin then visited a memorial commemorating the lives lost in the Holodomor famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.
The Taoiseach placed a wreath at the site and later lit a candle in an underground part of the memorial.
