The German president said his Polish counterpart had suggested that they go to Ukraine with other leaders to show solidarity, but that “this was apparently not desirable in Kyiv”.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s comments, Tuesday, during a visit to Poland, came after the German newspaper “Bild” quoted an unidentified Ukrainian diplomat as saying that he is not welcome in Kyiv at the present time because he had close relations with Russia in the past, quoting ” Associated Press”.
Steinmeier said Polish President Andrzej Duda had suggested he travel to the Ukrainian capital with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send a “strong signal of common European solidarity with Ukraine.” He said he was ready to do so.
Steinmeier admitted last week that he made policy mistakes toward Russia when he was foreign minister.
Today, Tuesday, parliamentary sources said that three senior officials of the Bundestag (German parliament) will meet with Ukrainian deputies in the west of the stricken country, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz will face pressure to visit Ukraine.
This is the first visit to Ukraine by German political representatives since the beginning Russian military operation on February 24 the past.
A session of the Bundestag on 6 April
According to Agence France-Presse, the three parliamentarians are the Chair of the Defense Committee Marie-Agnes Struck Zimmermann (the Liberal Party), the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Michael Root (the Social Democratic Party), and the Chairman of the European Affairs Committee Anton Hofriter (the Green Party), and they belong to the three parties. Forming the coalition government in Germany.
Sources in the vicinity of the first two officials said that they were “on their way to Ukraine”, without giving further details about the meeting place for “security reasons”.
For its part, the magazine “Der Spiegel” reported that the three officials will meet representatives of the Kyiv parliament in the west of the country, at the invitation of Ukrainian deputies.
The President of the European Parliament speaks before the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv in early April
The chairmen of these main committees in the German parliament announced that they support Kyiv delivered heavy weapons Especially tanks, while the German chancellor seems more conservative about this proposal.
On Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalina Bierbock said that European Union foreign ministers intend to increase arms shipments to Ukraine.
“The security of Ukrainians can only be defended with weapons, which is why we, as the European Union, as friends of the Ukrainian people, will increase arms shipments,” Birbock added.