Brussels, 20 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa are to travel to Kyiv for the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Monday.

In a post on X on Thursday announcing the trip, Costa wrote that the visit will "reaffirm our support to the heroic Ukrainian people and to the democratically elected president [Volodymyr Zelensky]."

By referencing that Zelensky was democratically elected, Costa sent a clear message to US President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday called Zelensky a "dictator" and said he had no democratic legitimacy.

The European Commission announced at the beginning of the week that von der Leyen and EU commissioners intended to travel to Ukraine for the anniversary, but no details were available at the time.