After weeks of disagreement between Berlin and Kyiv, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is to travel to Ukraine “soon”. This was announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Thursday evening at a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Berlin.
A few hours earlier, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, initially unwanted in Kyiv, had telephoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That’s a “good thing,” said Scholz, who initially did not comment on any travel plans of his own.
Meanwhile, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas had also announced a trip to Ukraine for Sunday. As President of the Parliament, she would be Germany’s highest-ranking representative in Kyiv since the outbreak of the war.
The Chancellor had not been in Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on February 24 and was sometimes sharply criticized for his reticence.
Further irritation arose after the Ukrainian side rejected Steinmeier’s visit to Kyiv in mid-April. Because of this affront, Scholz had repeatedly stated that he wanted to travel to Ukraine for the time being.
dpa