04/12/2022 18:02 (act 04/12/2022 18:16)
Steinmeier will not travel to Kiev right now. ©Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP)
The arrival of the German federal president is apparently “unwanted”, so Steinmeier will not visit Kiev.
A planned trip to Kiev by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier failed because he is obviously not welcome there. “I was willing to do that. But obviously – and I have to admit – that was not wanted in Kiev,” Steinmeier said Tuesday during a visit to Warsaw. The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin made it clear over the weekend that Ukraine is more likely to expect the arrival of German Chancellor Scholz.
Steinmeier’s visit to Kiev failed
In recent days, Polish President Andrzej Duda has suggested that they travel to the Ukrainian capital along with the heads of state of the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, “to send and establish a strong signal of common European solidarity with Ukraine”. This is no longer the case.
Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk had already made it clear over the weekend that Ukraine is more likely to expect a visit from Scholz than from Steinmeier. A trip to Kiev by the federal president would only have a symbolic character, he told dpa. “It would be better for the chancellor or other members of the federal government to come and make concrete decisions about more massive support for Ukraine,” Melnyk said. Ukraine is demanding the delivery of heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery pieces.
Numerous visits by Western politicians to Kiev
Steinmeier had already signaled on Friday that he had plans to travel to Kiev. “Of course, I’m also thinking about when is the right time for my next visit to Kiev.” Those plans have now expired. And this despite the fact that leading Western politicians are now shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The heads of government of Poland, Great Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia have already traveled to Kiev to strengthen Ukraine’s rearguard in the fight against Russian attackers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was there on Friday.