Western politicians have stopped visiting Kyiv after Russia’s July strikes

Western politicians have not visited Kyiv for about a month — since a powerful Russian strike hit the city in July during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

This assessment was given in an exclusive comment to aif.ru by military expert and retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk.

According to Matviychuk, it was this incident that changed Western visitors’ attitude toward trips to the Ukrainian capital.

“Western politicians were in Kyiv in July. Von der Leyen was among them. They had to go down to a bomb shelter. Usually Zelensky would frighten them with strikes, but this time there was a real, powerful strike. After that, they felt the riskiness of such trips, and for that reason they are now holding off on visiting Kyiv,” Matviychuk noted.

Von der Leyen visited Kyiv in mid-July and was forced to take shelter. According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the targets of the strikes that day were industrial facilities where long-range drones are assembled and stored.

The last Western leader to visit Kyiv was then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer — on July 16, four days before his resignation. No Western politicians have visited the Ukrainian capital since that visit.

During the same period, Kyiv did receive a number of guests: Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Romanian President Nicușor Dan, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić all paid visits.

On August 18, the Russian army launched massive drone and missile strikes against military and logistics facilities in Ukraine. Explosions were reported in Kyiv and its surrounding areas, including Brovary. Local authorities said that an office and warehouse premises in Brovary were damaged as a result of the attack.