German chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting Ukraine for the first time in more than two years.
His arrival comes just weeks after he was criticised by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy for having a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Their call came at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of US president-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine.
In a big shift, Mr Zelenskiy signalled an offer of Nato membership to territory under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage of the war” in Ukraine.
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Mr Scholz has been cautious about talk of fast-tracking Nato membership for Ukraine. In recent months, he has emphasised the importance of finding a path to peace, while stressing that it must not be chosen over Ukraine’s head.
Mr Scholz said that, in his meeting Mr Zelenskiy, he will announce further military supplies this month totalling €650 million.
“Ukraine can rely on Germany – we say what we do and we do what we say,” he said. “I would like to make clear here on the ground that Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe.”
Mr Scholz’s visit comes in advance of an early German election expected in February. As the campaign gets under way, the chancellor has pointed to Germany’s status as Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier while also highlighting his “prudence” in working to prevent the war escalating and refusing to deliver Taurus long-range cruise missiles.
The German leader was criticised by Mr Zelenskiy in November for speaking to Mr Putin in what appeared to be the first conversation with the sitting leader of a big western power in nearly two years.
In that call, Mr Scholz urged Mr Putin to be open to negotiations with Ukraine but the Russian leader said any peace deal should acknowledge Russia’s territorial gains and security demands, including that Kyiv renounce joining Nato.
Mr Zelenskiy suggested the call to Mr Putin risked opening “a Pandora’s box” and would only serve to make Russia less isolated. He travelled to Berlin in October to meet Mr Scholz to drum up support for his “victory plan” to end the war in Ukraine on a tour of European capitals.
The plan included a suggestion that Ukraine receive a formal invitation to join Nato and a request that Kyiv be given permission to use long-range western missiles to strike at military targets inside Russia.
Western nations granted permission for Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes with their weapons in November.
Following the decision, Mr Putin said Russia launched a strike on Ukraine with an unstoppable intermediate range ballistic missile dubbed the Oreshnik. It marked the first time that such a missile was used in the war or in any other conflict. – AP