Kiev snubs German President, putting pressure on Berlin

Germany is under increasing pressure over its reaction to the Ukraine war, as Kyiv has snubbed German president and Chancellor Olaf Scholz is accused of a lacklustre response.

He said he would come to Ukraine with other European leaders to demonstrate support, but “that evidently wasn’t wanted in Kyiv”.

While in Poland, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated that he was no longer welcome in Ukraine because of his tight ties with Russia, according to an anonymous Ukrainian diplomat published in Bild.

Foreign minister Steinmeier is under fire at home and abroad for his years-long détente strategy with Moscow, which he has later conceded was an error. Steinmeier has since apologized for the approach.

Steinmeier said he planned to fly to Kyiv this week with the presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania “to deliver a strong statement of common European support with Ukraine” while speaking in Poland’s capital city of Warsaw.

“I was prepared to do this, but obviously, and I must take notice of this, this was not wanted in Kyiv,” he said to the media.

“We all know about Steinmeier’s strong contacts with Russia here,” a nameless Ukrainian diplomat was reported as saying by Bild. At this time, he is not welcome in Kyiv. We’ll have to wait and see if anything changes.”

The AFP news agency claimed that a German government team was scheduled to fly to Ukraine on Tuesday, citing a source.

Free Democrats’ Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Socialists’ Michael Roth and Green Party member Anton Hofreiter met with Ukrainian lawmakers in western Ukraine, according to a reliable source, who also confirmed a Der Spiegel article.

The absence of Scholz from the trip has been questioned in light of previous visits by other world leaders, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.