It is official. After several news reports (on various dates) that Volodymyr Zelensky would be coming to Portugal, this time it is definitely happening: The President of Ukraine will visit our country tomorrow, Tuesday, for the first time since the start of the war - and after having visited Spain today.

The closest the Ukrainian head of state has been to Portugal - up until now - was in a speech he gave in Parliament on April 21, 2022. At the time, Zelensky used a parallel: "Your people will soon be celebrating the Carnation Revolution, you know perfectly well what we are feeling", he said, referring to the Carnation Revolution.

Now, it will not be by videoconference. The President of Ukraine will be in Portugal and will meet with the Head of State, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic announced today.

"At the invitation of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Portugal tomorrow [Tuesday], May 28", reads a note published on the official website.

According to this communication, released simultaneously by the office of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, "President Zelensky's working visit is part of the shared intention to deepen the excellent relations between the two states, with a particular focus on strengthening cooperation in the field of security and defense".

This visit by Zelensky to Portugal "will also be an opportunity to reiterate Portugal's commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as to maintaining political, military, financial and humanitarian support for Kyiv".

The agenda for the visit released by the office of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro states that Volodymyr Zelensky is expected at the Official Residence at 3:45 p.m. - where a bilateral meeting will take place between the head of government and the Ukrainian president. One hour later, at 4:45 p.m., the signing ceremony of the bilateral agreement on the security commitment is scheduled, followed by statements to the press.

Today, it should be recalled, during his visit to Spain - which was previously scheduled for May 17, but was canceled - Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that he would come to our country: "Yes, I plan to go to Portugal", said the President of Ukraine, at a press conference with the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, in Madrid.

On May 14, the Minister of National Defense, Nuno Melo, confirmed that a visit by the President of Ukraine to Portugal was being prepared, without indicating when or with what program.

Zelensky comes to sign an agreement and "thank Portugal's efforts"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, confirmed this Monday that the visit of the President of Ukraine, Voldymyr Zelensky, to Portugal on Tuesday is "essentially" aimed at signing an agreement within the framework of the bilateral relationship between the two countries and the fact that Kyiv wants to "thank Portugal for its efforts" over the past two years.

After a meeting in Brussels, the Portuguese minister began by recalling that President Zelensky's visit "was scheduled and programmed almost two weeks ago", but due to the situation in Kharkiv, "it was only possible to do Spain and Portugal today and tomorrow", respectively.

"The political agreement between Portugal and Ukraine, which is a bilateral agreement in all areas in which we have cooperated in the last two years, was concluded about three weeks ago. In the area of humanitarian assistance, in the area of financial assistance, in the area of military assistance, in the area of political assistance to the European integration process itself", also said Rangel.

"It gathers all the dimensions in which we have been working, but now in a systematized way and with a ten-year horizon", he added.

Thus, he summarized: "The visit is essentially aimed at two things: on the one hand, this framework of bilateral relations between Portugal and Ukraine for the coming years, already duly systematized in a political agreement. And, at the same time, Ukraine wants to thank Portugal for its efforts, which we know are quite large, over the past two years, of full solidarity with the country's situation and, in particular, with the need to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's trip to Ukraine

It should be recalled that in August last year, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made a two-day visit to Ukraine, at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky, on