Portuguese president explains situation with Zelenskyy's visit

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has expressed concern about the escalation of the situation in Ukraine and explained the situation regarding the cancelled visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As reported by Euractiv with reference to de Sousa’s statement, De Sousa said Zelenskyy's visit to Portugal was under consideration, but not definitively confirmed. 

"We can’t talk about a cancellation, because the visit had never been confirmed, it was an initiative involving several countries that was apparently under study, but was never confirmed," he said. 

He noted that discussing the confirmation of the Ukrainian president's visit was not possible due to security conditions, as Ukraine is in a state of war.

On Tuesday, 12 May, Nuno Melo, Portuguese Minister of Defence, confirmed that the visit of the Ukrainian president to Portugal was being prepared but did not specify when it would happen or what would be on the agenda.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was supposed to travel to Spain on an official visit on 17 May and meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to sign a bilateral security agreement between the two countries.

However, on 15 May, the media reported that Zelenskyy had cancelled his visit to Spain due to the challenging frontline situation.

Later, the President’s Office confirmed that Zelenskyy had postponed all international events due to the situation at the front.