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Chancellor Olaf Scholz still wants to rely on Russian oil. This angers Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
++ 19:30: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has again severely criticized Germany for continuing to buy Russian oil. Germany and Hungary have blocked an embargo, Selenskyj told the BBC in an interview excerpt broadcast on Thursday. “We don’t understand how money can be made with blood. Unfortunately, that is what some countries are doing.” Zelenskyy said seven weeks after Russia’s war of aggression began, it was now necessary to talk to these countries to change their attitude.
“Some of our friends and partners understand that now is a different time, that it is no longer about business and money. That it’s a matter of survival,” the head of state underlined. He praised the US, Britain and some other European countries for their arms sales. “But we still need them sooner, sooner and faster. key is “now”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been President of Ukraine since 2019. On February 14, he received Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kiev. © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
++ 18:10: After the cancellation of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Kiev, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba continues to count on cooperation with Germany. “We are not interested in closer bilateral relations,” Kuleba said in Kiev on Thursday (April 14, 2022), according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
However, Kiev expects a new German policy towards Ukraine. “And we expect this new German policy from the new German government,” said the 40-year-old. Ukraine does not agree with everything in German politics.
Steinmeier’s invitation: the Ukrainian government probably actively canceled the visit
+++ 15h: Ukraine’s government apparently actively canceled a possible visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner. This is suggested by a report by the Germany editorial network. The RND refers to an “informal message” from the Ukrainian government to the German embassy in Kiev. According to the report, he said that a visit to Germany would be better if it did not take place together with the Polish and Baltic delegations. Among other things, security concerns were expressed.
Before the war in Ukraine: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Volodymyr Selenskyi. © Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Ukrainian President Zelenskyj had previously emphasized that he had not received an “official request” for a visit from Steinmeier. Two of his aides also contradict each other in statements (see Apr 13, 2022 Update, 4pm).
+++ 10:30 am: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, there were no questions about a possible visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Ukraine. “I, as president, and our office have not received any official inquiries from the Federal President and the Office of the Federal President about a visit to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said at a press event in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Wednesday, according to the newspaper. . the Ukrainian agency Unian.
Update for Thursday, April 14, 2022, 8:05 am: Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck criticized Ukraine’s cancellation of a visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “The federal president is Germany. And that’s why your invitation from President Selenskyi is an invitation from Germany,” the green politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday). “Unfortunately, I have to put it this way: the Ukrainian side made a diplomatic mistake.”
“A little irritating”: Scholz criticizes Steinmeier’s discharge – Selenskyj’s adviser causes confusion
+++ 16h: Serhiy Leschtschenko, chief of staff in the Ukrainian government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied on American television that an offer to visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been turned down. He told CNN. This contradicts a statement by Presidential Advisor Olexeij Arestovych on the ARD (see 9:30 am update). He apologized for the cancellation.
++ 3:30 pm: Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized the fact that President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was not invited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The action was “a little irritating”. He told rbb Inforradi: “The federal president would like to go to Ukraine.” “That’s why it would have been nice to have him,” Scholz continued. The chancellor left open whether he would accept the invitation to Kiev.
Robert Habeck criticizes Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s invitation by Selenskyj. © Annegret Hilse/dpa
+++ 9:30 am: Ukrainian presidential adviser Olexeij Arestovych asked for understanding for his government’s cancellation of a visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kiev. He doesn’t know the reasons, but the policy and decisions of President Volodymyr Zelenskyj are very balanced, Arestovych said on Wednesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, according to the translation. “Our president is waiting for the chancellor so that he can make practical decisions immediately, including the delivery of weapons.”
Selenskyj invites Scholz instead of Steinmeier – Klitschko wants the president to travel later
+++ 08:45: Former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko is betting on the federal president’s visit to the country at a later date after Ukraine rejected a visit by Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “I hope that the federal president’s visit to Kiev has only been postponed and can be made up for in the coming weeks,” the brother of Kiev’s mayor Vitali Klitschko told the Bild newspaper on Tuesday night. “I think it’s urgent that we as Ukraine continue to build bridges to Germany,” he said. “Germany is the number one partner in providing financial assistance to Ukraine, providing humanitarian assistance, helping refugees en masse and sending more and more weapons even though we need more of them,” added Klitschko.
War in Ukraine: FDP leader Kubicki harshly criticizes Selenskyj
Update for Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 07:00: After the Ukrainian leadership’s affront to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, FDP Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki initially ruled out the possibility of Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveling to Kiev. “I cannot imagine that the chancellor of an FDP-backed government would travel to a country that declares our country’s head of state an undesirable person,” said Kubicki of the German press agency in Berlin.
War in Ukraine: Steinmeier unwanted – Selenskyj invites Chancellor Scholz
+++ 21h: After the refusal of a visit by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Ukraine invited Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to Kiev. “We also communicated this in such a way that my president and the government would be very happy if Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kiev,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Berlin Andrij Melnyk said Tuesday evening (April 12, 2022) at ProSieben and on the SAT. .1. The visit should be about how Germany can help Ukraine with heavy weapons in the fight against Russia. “My president is looking forward to this,” Melnyk said.
Unwanted Steinmeier: Selenskyj has no interest in the Federal President’s visit
First report, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 6:50 pm: Warsaw – Diplomatic affront to Federal President: German head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Ukraine was rejected by the leadership in Kiev. A joint visit with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and the heads of state of the Baltic countries is apparently “unwanted” in Kiev, the federal president said on Tuesday (April 12, 2022) during a visit to Warsaw. His meeting with Duda was marked by the war in Ukraine: Steinmeier condemned Russian “barbarism” in Ukraine and praised Poland’s efforts to take in refugees.
Duda suggested that the presidents of Poland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania travel together to Kiev, Steinmeier said in Warsaw. “I was willing to do that, but apparently – and I have to admit this – that was not wanted in Kiev,” the federal president said. It was Duda’s idea to use the trip to “send and establish a strong signal of common European solidarity with Ukraine”.
War in Ukraine: Bundestag members may come
First, the image informed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had refused a visit by the Federal President to Kiev. On the other hand, Kiev’s leadership gave the green light to the visit of several Bundestag members: FDP defense policy Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, SPD foreign politician Michael Roth and European Committee Greens president Anton Hofreiter, embarked on a trip to Ukraine, where they wanted to meet with representatives of the Ukrainian parliament in the west of the country.
In his previous offices, Steinmeier had pursued a pro-Russian policy and also supported the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which was particularly heavily criticized by Ukraine. A week ago, he admitted mistakes in his policy, took a “bitter balance sheet” and declared he was wrong about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
War in Ukraine: scathing criticism of Steinmeier
Earlier, the Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, had harshly criticized the federal president and accused him of having “made a web of contacts with Russia for decades”. He was mainly referring to Steinmeier’s previous activities as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister in the Chancellor’s Office.
Regarding the many Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Steinmeier acknowledged the country’s willingness to accept them in Warsaw. Poland is the main country of arrival for Ukrainian refugees, more than 2.6 million people seeking protection have already arrived there.
The federal president also condemned the war of aggression “which Russia has launched against Ukraine and which has been causing destruction, casualties, displacement and much human suffering in the last six weeks”. The Polish government recently sharply criticized Germany’s stance in the debate over new sanctions against Moscow and called for more German arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Steinmeier: No Return to Normality Under Putin
“There is no doubt that we in Germany, together with our neighbors, must do everything we can to increase the economic pressure on Russia,” Steinmeier said in Warsaw. Germany is trying to reduce Russia’s energy supply “as quickly as possible”. As far as the German economic structure is concerned, however, things “are not going as quickly as some would like at the moment,” she admitted.
“In my opinion, one thing is clear: there can be no return to normalcy with Russia under Putin,” Steinmeier said, referring to the Kremlin chief. “Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine have become visible to the world.” These crimes must be clarified and the perpetrators and those responsible must be held accountable. (skr/ktho with AFP/dpa)