(CNN) A year ago, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last visited Washington, Russian forces had yet to cross the border into Ukraine and there was widespread skepticism amid dire warnings from the White House that an invasion was imminent.
Scholz returned to meetings with President Joe Biden Friday after a transformative 12 months in which Europe has had to fundamentally rethink its own security and Germany has undergone its most significant shift in military and energy policies in decades.
“A lot has changed since your last visit,” Biden said at the start of the Oval Office talks, which are expected to last about an hour.
Scholz followed suit: “A lot has happened since last year, we have a lot to talk about,” he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed Scholz, who took office two months before Russia’s invasion, into a crisis leader overseeing Europe’s largest economy and most powerful democracy during the continent’s worst violence since World War II.
And it has pushed him and Biden into one of the most consequential relationships in the world, buoyed by shared opposition to the Russian invasion but at times strained over how to respond.
“They have stepped up to provide critical military support. And I would argue that the moral support you gave to the Ukrainians went deep beyond military support. Profound,” Biden told his Oval Office counterpart.
“I know it wasn’t easy,” Biden said. “Very difficult for you.”
White House officials say Biden has forged a solid relationship over the past year with Scholz, who succeeded longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel in late 2021. They called three times in January alone, and during Friday’s White House session, they were expected to have lengthy one-on-ones in the Oval Office.
The overwhelming topic of discussion, according to senior government officials, was Ukraine, including talks the two men recently had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is pressuring the West to request more powerful weapons as he prepares for a spring counter-offensive against Russia .
“The overall purpose of this meeting was an opportunity for the two leaders to coordinate specifically on Ukraine,” a senior government official said ahead of the visit.
They were also expected to address recent intelligence suggesting China is considering providing lethal aid to Russia, a move US officials fear could prolong the conflict, though China is not a “driving focus.” “ of the talks was.
The White House also announced on Friday another round of military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition for weapons systems Ukrainians already have. The package was valued at around $400 million.
In inviting Scholz back to the White House, Biden hoped to bolster a leader who has endured a difficult first year in office.
A year ago it would have been hard to imagine Germany supplying Ukraine with weapons such as howitzers, Stinger rocket launchers and Leopard tanks to repel Russian invaders. A largely pacifist attitude had dominated Berlin’s foreign policy in the decades following German violence in World War II.
But now Germany is investing in its military again, sending more and more advanced weapons, though not at the pace Zelenskyy would like. Other critics say Scholz has failed to play a unifying role in Europe similar to Merkel’s, preferring to act unilaterally rather than collaborating with other leaders like France’s Emmanuel Macron. And some US officials say Germany remains overly cautious compared to other Western allies.
Still, the so-called “turning point” that Scholz called for in the days after the Russian invasion was welcomed in the White House and bolstered by many of the steps he’s taken in the months since.
Germany’s January decision to provide Ukraine with Leopard tanks is the latest example of the country overcoming its post-war reluctance to foreign military intervention. The decision came only after a diplomatic row with the United States, which agreed to supply Ukraine with its own Abrams tanks, which, despite warnings from the Pentagon, would not be as useful on the battlefield.
Exactly how the deal came about is a matter of debate. After Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said last weekend that “the Germans have told the President that they would not be willing to send those Leopards into battle … until the President also agrees to send Abrams,” the federal government insisted The decision to send tanks was reached jointly and without demands from Berlin.
In any case, the outcome was viewed positively by Biden’s advisers, some of whom viewed Scholz with skepticism a year ago when he appeared reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia should it invade Ukraine or terminate the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Scholz took both steps when the invasion began, despite the risk that Germany would be cut off from one of its main energy suppliers.
For his part, Scholz could use Friday’s meeting to raise with Biden his ongoing talks with other European leaders about providing security guarantees to Ukraine to start the process of negotiating an end to the war.
There are growing fears among US and European officials that the grueling conflict could degenerate into a bloody standoff, with both sides making little gains but still refusing to come to the negotiating table.
Speaking to the German Bundestag before leaving for Washington, Scholz said on Thursday that Germany and its western allies are in talks with Kiev on future security guarantees in preparation for a sustainable peace in Ukraine.
“However, such security guarantees presuppose that Ukraine successfully defends itself in this war,” said Scholz, emphasizing that Germany would continue to support Ukraine with arms deliveries.
Scholz further said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently not open to negotiations on an end to the war in Ukraine.
“Is Putin even ready to negotiate a just peace? At the moment there is nothing to suggest that,” said Scholz.