The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, met this Thursday afternoon in Kiev with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Presidential Office of the Ukrainian head of state. The meeting served for the Catalan leader to convey Catalonia’s solidarity with the Ukrainian people and to invite the country’s president to visit Barcelona and Catalonia.
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During the meeting, held at 5:00 p.m. for about 40 minutes, Illa conveyed to Zelensky Catalonia’s commitment to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, highlighting that since the beginning of the war Catalonia has been by their side and that the Catalan leader’s trip aims to be a demonstration of the will to strengthen and reinforce that support.
Likewise, Illa defended European democratic values, which also represent Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression, and expressed his support for Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and the use of frozen Russian assets to increase aid in the country.
The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, also attended the meeting
Both presidents discussed the current situation of the war, and the Catalan head of government conveyed on behalf of Catalonia the strong condemnation of the attacks against the civilian population that have occurred in recent days and unconditional support for a resolution of the conflict that guarantees a just and lasting peace.
At the meeting, President Illa also invited President Zelensky to visit Barcelona and Catalonia. The meeting was not initially included in the president’s agenda, but sources from the Catalan government explained that “there was willingness on both sides” to hold this meeting, as it finally was.
Until now, President Zelensky had only received heads of state and prime ministers, but the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, the Minister of European Union and Foreign Action, Jaume Duch, and the second head of the Spanish Embassy in Kiev, Antonio Santamaría, also attended the meeting.
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Collaboration agreements with three Ukrainian provinces
Illa arrived in Kiev early in the morning, after a train journey of more than 10 hours, and signed three collaboration agreements with the governors of three Ukrainian regions: Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia, to promote cooperation in areas such as support for those displaced by the war, reconstruction, or energy efficiency.
The agreement with Lviv, a region located in the far west of the country, focuses on launching initiatives to support the many displaced from areas further east and therefore more intensely affected by the war. The memorandum with Dnipropetrovsk supports joint projects that promote energy efficiency and also opens the door to cooperation in the metallurgy, chemical, and space and defense machinery sectors. With Zaporizhzhia, which has much of its territory occupied by Russia, it is proposed that Catalonia contribute to the reconstruction of critical infrastructure, economic and industrial reactivation, and the planning of sustainable development for this key region.
Illa emphasized in this regard that “the future of Europe is the future of Ukraine, and that Catalonia, as a convincingly pro-European country, is here to continue giving all its support to the people of Ukraine.” The president highlighted that Ukrainians are not only defending themselves but all Europeans, and that in line with what the Spanish government defends, the Catalan government supports the full integration of Ukraine into European institutions as soon as possible.
After the meeting, Zelensky reported the appointment on social media, where he thanked the visit and the “assistance” after the signing of the agreements. “During the war, regional cooperation and direct support to communities are very important. We appreciate it when our partners, at their level, help address specific challenges on the ground,” the Ukrainian president said.
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