Irish PM vows Ukraine support after Zelensky talks

DUBLIN: Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin pledged support for Ukraine Thursday after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky as he stopped over in Ireland on the way to Washington for key talks.

After the brief meeting with Zelensky at Shannon airport Martin told reporters that he had reiterated Ireland’s support for Ukraine and its effort to join the European Union.

“We made it very clear, that we would push very strongly for an accelerated timeline in terms of Ukrainian membership of the European Union,” said Martin.

Martin, who took over as taoiseach (prime minister) last month following a general election in November, described the meeting as “warm”.

Not a member of NATO, militarily neutral Ireland has provided so-called “non-lethal” support to Ukraine since the Russian invasion three years ago, including financial and humanitarian aid.

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“We discussed the steps to end the war with guaranteed peace for Ukraine and the whole of Europe,” Zelensky said on Telegram after the talks.

Zelensky, who was headed for talks with US President Donald Trump, stressed the importance of unity between the EU, US and Ukraine “as well as security guarantees and cooperation on Ukraine’s path to the EU”.

Martin said Dublin would look at hiking financial support including alternative options such food programmes for schools and drone technology for evacuating injured soldiers from the frontline.

“Ireland is open to helping in any way we possibly can, including in a peacekeeping role” after any potential ceasefire, Martin added.

Ireland’s small, 8,500-strong defence force has traditionally engaged in international peacekeeping.

“(Zelensky) was appreciative of that but obviously a lot will be determined by the nature of agreements if they happen, if a ceasefire happens, how it happens, the nature of the modality of it,” said Martin.

“Ceasefires on their own don’t give you the longer-term security. But of course, ceasefires, particularly in such big countries such as Ukraine, are significantly difficult to monitor,” he added.

Zelensky is set to meet Trump on Friday to discuss a deal on US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, hoping to win guarantees of future US support.

He is then due to attend security and defence talks in the UK on Sunday hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer with European leaders.