Plans for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit Kyiv in the company of other European heads of state have been abandoned as he is apparently not welcome in the Ukrainian capital, writes news agency MIA.
“I was ready to go, but apparently — and I have to acknowledge this — this was not wanted in Kyiv,” Steinmeier said during a visit to Warsaw on Tuesday for talks with President Andrzej Duda. Duda had in recent days pressed for a joint visit along with the heads of state of the Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with a view to “sending a strong signal of joint European solidarity with Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, said Kyiv was inviting Scholz. “We communicated that my president and the government would be very happy if Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kyiv,” Melnyk told German television channels ProSieben and SAT.1 late Tuesday.
Melnyk made clear over the weekend that Kyiv expected a visit from Chancellor Olaf Scholz rather than from the president, whose role is largely ceremonial. A Steinmeier visit would have largely symbolic character, according to the ambassador, who has gained a reputation in Germany for his outspokenness over a perceived lack of material support from the European Union’s powerhouse.
“The chancellor or other members of the German government should come instead, who could make concrete decisions on further substantial support for Ukraine,” Melnyk told dpa. Ukraine has demanded surplus heavy weapons, including tanks and artillery, from Germany, but this has been blocked by Scholz, who is insisting on joint EU action.
Other NATO countries such as the Czech Republic had already opted to deliver heavy weapons, Melnyk stressed. The Ukrainian government hoped the German federal government in Berlin would soon decide to follow suit. Leaders from European countries including Poland, Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia have already visited Kyiv to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, as has European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
During his day-long visit to Warsaw, Steinmeier thanked Poland for accepting almost 2.7 million people fleeing the war over its southern border. The German president was accompanied by his wife, Elke Büdenbender. Their original visit, planned for the end of last month, was postponed after Büdenbender became infected with the coronavirus.
