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00:00 Let's cross now to Emanuel Shares in Kyiv.
00:03 Emanuel, let's start first of all with those attacks
00:06 by Russia overnight.
00:08 What is the latest?
00:10 - Hi Annette.
00:15 Well, you've mentioned those cruise missiles
00:17 that were fired against Ukraine
00:20 in the very early hours of the morning.
00:23 So just as Vladimir Putin back in Moscow
00:26 was talking about a war waged against Russia,
00:30 well, it's very much Ukraine and Ukrainians
00:32 who were bearing the brunt of that war,
00:35 of that war of aggression
00:37 that Russia launched against Ukraine
00:38 with 25 missiles launched against Ukraine last night.
00:42 15 of them were actually launched against Kyiv.
00:47 They were targeting the Ukrainian capital.
00:50 They were all intercepted by Ukrainian air defense.
00:53 There were no people injured last night,
00:56 but this is the fifth night in a row
00:59 that Russia throws all it has against Ukraine,
01:03 be it missiles of different kinds, be it drones,
01:06 and especially against the capital, Kyiv.
01:09 And the victims of those attacks are often civilians.
01:13 Over the past 24 hours, 17 people have been injured
01:17 and 139 places have been hit by those strikes.
01:22 - And May the 9th, of course, is also significant
01:24 for the Ukrainians with a visit by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
01:28 What's expected to come out of her meetings
01:30 with President Vladimir Zelensky?
01:33 - Well, first off, by coming here for the fifth time,
01:40 Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission,
01:43 is showing her commitment to help Ukraine on its path to --
01:48 on its candidacy path towards the European Union.
01:52 Now, what Ukraine wants is to join the European Union.
01:56 They have been taking part in talks.
02:00 They have been making reforms.
02:02 And, of course, now more than ever,
02:04 now that this war is also a battle of ideas,
02:08 a battle between, you know,
02:10 a war against the idea of democracy, of human rights,
02:14 as understood by the European Union,
02:17 well, of course, Kiev wants to join this European Union.
02:20 There are very encouraging signs.
02:22 For example, in Brussels, in front of the European Commission,
02:24 the Ukrainian flag was floating today.
02:29 Here in Kiev, Vladimir Zelensky declared
02:32 that now the 9th of May would be Europe Day,
02:35 just as it is in other EU member states.
02:38 And where I am, on Sofia Square, a symbolic place here in Kiev,
02:43 there is an exhibition all around me on the projects,
02:47 the cultural projects supported by the European Union
02:50 to safeguard Ukraine's heritage.
02:54 And in the very far background,
02:56 you can see the European Union flag
02:59 also floating along the Ukrainian flag.
03:01 And this is just a symbol of just how important Europe
03:07 is to Ukraine and how dear Europe is to Ukraine
03:10 and how much they want to join the European Union.
03:13 Emmanuel Shahrs reporting there from Kiev, thank you.