The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin has told the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky that Ireland is committed to helping his country financially.
They met at Shannon Airport in County Clare on Thursday. Martin cancelled a planned visit to Stormont in order to attend the meeting.
He told Zelensky that he has to look at “alternative approaches to give financial aid to Ukraine”.
“Our commitments… have been frustrated by Hungary’s decision to veto the deployment of the European peace facility fund set up by the European union,” he explained.
Zelensky is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on sharing his country’s mineral resources.
He made a brief stop at the Irish airport on the way to this meeting.
“We discussed issues around a sustainable and durable peace settlement,” Martin said.
“We made it clear that we would push very strongly for an accelerated timeline in terms of Ukrainian membership of the European Union,” he said.
He said Zelensky “was very thankful… for Ireland’s sustained support for the Ukrainian people… as they battle through this terrible war”.
He said Ireland could help by taking part in initiatives to help feed children in Ukraine and is looking into supporting financially the use of robotic drones to help bring back soldiers who are injured.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that Zelensky said he was delighted to be in Ireland and to meet with the Taoiseach.
He thanked the Irish people for the support they have offered Ukrainian citizens who have been forced to flee from conflict.
At the end of 2024 almost 80,000 Ukrainian refugees were still living in the Republic of Ireland, according to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office.
Earlier this week, Ireland pledged to increase financial humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Martin said that Ireland would “contribute more financially on all fronts and in all areas”.