'Good to be back' - Robert Metsola returns for second visit to war-torn Ukraine

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is back in war-torn Ukraine for a second visit in less than a year.

She arrived in Ukraine on Friday evening in an announced visit and met with Ukraine parliament president Ruslan Stefanchuk.

“Good to be back in Ukraine. With those brave people who inspired the world. With those heroes who refuse to give in. With those who sacrificed everything for our values. With Europeans whose home is in our European Union,” Metsola wrote on Twitter.

 Metsola promised Stefanchuk stronger ties between the European Parliament and Ukraine.

During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the European Parliament last February, Metsola had reiterated Europe’s support of Ukraine and said that Member States should consider providing the country with long range systems and jets.

There seems to be no end in sight for this war, more than a year after Russia invaded sovereign Ukraine. On Friday, the USA announced a new $400 million security aid package for Ukraine that includes a variety of ammunition types.

Metsola made headlines in March 2022 when she was the first high-level EU official to set foot in Ukraine and among the first to advocate for its EU membership.

She was the first high-level EU official to visit Ukraine after Russia invaded the country, doing so at the end of March 2022. She was also among the first to call for Ukraine to be given a pathway to eventual EU membership.

On Saturday, Metsola participated in the Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Memorial to Fallen Soldiers with H.E. Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

"Emotional moment today as I laid flowers on behalf of the people of Europe to remember all those killed - including Yuriy Ruf, who was killed by Russian mortars on 1 April. It was especially poignant for me as that was the day I first visited Ukraine. We will remember them," Metsola wrote on Twitter.

Zelenskyy thanked Metsola for her support in the first days of the war and for adapting the resolution to support Ukraine's EU candidate status.

"Ukraine aims to complete the implementation of the European Commission’s recommendations as soon as possible and start negotiations on joining the EU already this year," Zelenskyy wrote on Instagram.

READ MORE: Ukraine is Europe | Roberta Metsola