EU leaders in Kyiv warned off arming Ukraine

Evacuees from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions board a train in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday. They are heading for the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. (ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP)

KYIV/MOSCOW-The Kremlin on Thursday warned against new Western weapon supplies to Ukraine as leaders of France, Germany and Italy visited Kyiv.

It came a day after the United States announced $1 billion worth of new arms for Ukrainian forces.

"I would like to hope that the leaders of these three states and the President of Romania will not only focus on supporting Ukraine by further pumping Ukraine with weapons," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He added that it would be "absolutely useless and will cause further damage to the country".

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland. It is their first trip to Ukraine since Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine on Feb 24.

Before departing, Macron said on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will have to negotiate with Russia, and the Europeans will also be present at the negotiating table, bringing security guarantees.

"We want to build peace, which means that at some point the fire must stop and the talks must resume," Macron told a joint news conference with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis after their talks at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base.

Scholz told German daily Bild that they "want to show not only solidarity but also assure that the help that we're organizing, financial, humanitarian, but also, when it comes to weapons, will continue".

They are due to meet Zelensky at a time when Kyiv is pushing to be given official candidate status to join the European Union.

But bloc officials have cautioned that even with candidacy status, membership could take years or even decades.

"Let's hope they will encourage President Zelensky to really look at the state of affairs," Peskov said.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden announced $1 billion worth of new arms for Ukrainian forces. He added that his country is also providing Ukraine with $225 million worth of humanitarian assistance.

Biden informed Zelensky of the decision during a telephone conversation, where the US president said the security assistance will include "additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems that the Ukrainians need to support their defensive operations" in the eastern Donbas region, according to a statement released by the White House.

Also on Thursday, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said the visit of the European leaders will be of no use.

"European fans of frogs, liverwurst and spaghetti love visiting Kyiv. With zero use," Medvedev said on Twitter in English.

"Promised EU membership and old howitzers to Ukraine, lushed up on gorilka and went home by train," he said, referring to Ukraine's vodka. "It won't bring Ukraine closer to peace."

Ukraine has recently received French-made self-propelled Caesar howitzers.

On the battlefield, fighting in eastern Ukraine is now focused on the industrial city of Severodonetsk, and the Russians appear close to consolidating control after weeks of intense battles. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region, said on Thursday that around 10,000 civilians remain trapped in the city.