German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) says goodbye to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right), as he departs the Bellevue Palace on May 14, 2023, in Berlin.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Germany for its support as he met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday in his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy arrived in Berlin from Rome, where he met individually on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis. The pope indicated that the Vatican would assist in the repatriation of Ukrainian children taken by Russians.
He flew on a German government plane escorted over German airspace by fighter jets of the Luftwaffe air force, arriving in the course of the night.
“In essentially the most difficult time in the fashionable history of Ukraine, Germany proud to be our true friend and reliable ally,” Zelenskyy wrote within the guest book of the German presidency. “Together we’ll win and convey peace back to Europe.”
Zelenskyy was expected to satisfy later with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his security cabinet before heading to Aachen in west Germany to receive the distinguished Charlemagne prize in honour of services to Europe.
Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy, faced criticism firstly of the war for what some called a hesitant response, however it has grow to be one among Ukraine’s biggest providers of economic and military assistance.
The federal government announced 2.7 billion euro ($3 billion) of military aid to Ukraine on Saturday, its biggest such package yet since Russia’s invasion in February last 12 months, and pledged further support for Kyiv for so long as obligatory.
Zelenskyy hailed this as a “powerful package” in a tweet, indicating that he aimed to debate weapons supply in addition to air defence, reconstruction, Ukraine’s candidacy for membership of the European Union and security with German officials.
Zelenskyy last visited Germany for the Munich Security Council in February last 12 months just before the war broke out.
Germany was constrained in its support for Ukraine at the moment each by its energy dependence on Russia and a pacifism rooted in its bloody twentieth century history.
This required a significant policy upheaval and a shift in mindset that Scholz dubbed a “Zeitenwende” or turn of era, in a landmark speech just days after the war broke out.
