PRZEMYSL: France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Mario Draghi returned to Poland by overnight train Friday following their first visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, an AFP reporter saw.

An hour before their train arrived in the Polish city of Przemysl, Prime Minister Draghi joined President Macron in his carriage for a bilateral meeting.

Shortly after the departure from Kyiv on Thursday, Macron and Chancellor Scholz also held talks.

During their visit to Ukraine, the three leaders, joined by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, said they were ready to “immediately” grant Ukraine official candidate status to join the European Union.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the announcement and said he hoped other member states would agree ahead of the EU summit on June 23-24.

25% of Ukraine’s arable land lost to war: Kyiv

Each delegation had four carriages on the special train, which was organised by the Ukrainian side.

As well as diplomats and journalists, the leaders were accompanied on the train by some 80 French, German, Italian and Ukrainian security personnel.