Oct. 25 (DPA/EP) –
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, met this Tuesday with the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, as part of his official trip to Ukraine, which has had to be postponed up to twice for security reasons.
Steinmeier, who is scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, has gone with Klitschko to different parts of the city to observe the destruction of the Russian bombing.
On the sidelines of this meeting, Steinmeier had to go to a shelter along with several Ukrainian officials, including the mayor of the city of Koriukivka, Ratan Ajmedov, after an air alarm sounded in this town northeast of kyiv due to the threat, according to the Ukrainian security forces, of at least ten combat drones of alleged Iranian origin.
The German president has recognized that these types of situations cannot be ruled out, since the population has to deal with air alarms every day. “Having the conversation there was particularly impressive,” he said, adding that they spent an hour and a half in the shelter.
The German president had planned to visit the troubled country, as well as meet with his Ukrainian counterpart for months. However, those attempts have so far been postponed by his security team, who have previously advised against the trip.
The decision to travel comes amid ongoing criticism of Steinmeier’s ties to Russia and his inability, during his tenure as foreign minister, to heed warnings from Eastern European countries about the threat of aggression. Russian.
Regarding these links, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Andri Melnik accused Berlin of having exhibited a lukewarm response to the Russian invasion of his country after pointing out the German president for maintaining a “web of contacts” in Russia that has made a more forceful reaction impossible. .
The diplomatic dispute between Germany and Ukraine was later resolved, although there is still debate in the public sphere about whether German politicians have maintained too close ties with Moscow in recent decades.
Steinmeier’s visit coincides with a press conference in Berlin to discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have spoken about the situation in the Ukrainian territory.
