The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk has criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) preliminary no to a trip to Kyiv. “Playing an offended liverwurst doesn’t sound very statesmanlike,” Melnyk told the German Press Agency. “It’s about the most brutal war of annihilation since the Nazi attack on Ukraine, it’s not a kindergarten.”
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Scholz had previously argued on ZDF on Monday evening that Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s unloading through Ukraine would stand in the way of his trip.
Steinmeier actually wanted to go to Kyiv with the heads of state of Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in mid-April, but was rejected at short notice. Scholz now said: “It cannot work that a country that provides so much military aid, so much financial aid that is needed when it comes to the security guarantees that are important for Ukraine in the future are that you then say, but the President cannot come.”
Meanwhile, the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann asked the diplomat to apologize to the Federal President. Ukraine had uninvited Steinmeier and now cannot expect Chancellor Scholz to travel to Kyiv, the chair of the Defense Committee told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
“Perhaps, dear Mr. Melnyk, one should simply apologize to the President and then politely invite the Chancellor to come,” said Strack-Zimmermann.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz and left-wing foreign politician Gregor Gysi recently announced trips to Ukraine. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was the first member of the government to announce plans for a trip to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv – but without a specific date.
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Melnyk said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would still be happy to receive Scholz in Kyiv. But he added: “What Ukraine would look forward to much more than any symbolic visits is that the traffic light government will swiftly implement the Bundestag’s proposal for the delivery of heavy weapons and fulfill the promises made so far.”
He criticized that no ammunition had yet been found for the promised Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. Scholz and his cabinet are meeting this Tuesday for a two-day retreat to talk about the Ukraine war and its aftermath. (dpa)
