German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) bids farewell to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) as he leaves Bellevue Palace on May 14, 2023 in Berlin.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for its support during a gathering with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday during his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion.
Zelensky arrived in Berlin from Rome, where he met individually with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis on Saturday. The Pope noted that the Vatican would help repatriate Ukrainian children taken by the Russians.
He flew a German government plane escorted over German airspace by Luftwaffe fighters, arriving in the middle of the night.
“In the most difficult period in Ukraine’s modern history, Germany is proud to be our true friend and reliable ally,” Zelensky wrote in the guest book of the German presidency. “Together we’ll win and restore peace in Europe.”
Zelensky was expected to meet later with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his security cabinet before heading to Aachen in western Germany to receive the prestigious Charlemagne Prize for services to Europe.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, faced criticism early in the war for what some called an uncertain response, nevertheless it became one in all Ukraine’s largest providers of monetary and military aid.
The federal government announced 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion) in military aid to Ukraine on Saturday, the largest such package since Russia invaded last February, and pledged to proceed supporting Kiev for so long as mandatory.
Zelensky called it a “powerful package” in a tweet, indicating that he intends to discuss arms deliveries in addition to air defense, reconstruction, Ukraine’s bid for EU membership and security with German officials.
The last time Zelensky visited Germany was at the Munich Security Council meeting in February last 12 months, just before the outbreak of war.
Germany, in its support for Ukraine at the moment, limited each its energy dependence on Russia and the pacifism rooted in bloody Twentieth-century history.
It required a serious political upheaval and mindset change that Scholz called “Zeitenwende” or the turn of an era in a landmark speech just days after the war broke out.