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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met with Germany’s leaders in Berlin on Sunday, his newest in a sequence of journeys to specific due to Western allies and push for quicker deliveries of weapons because the 15-month warfare grinds on and a Ukrainian counteroffensive looms.
Chatting with journalists aspect by aspect on the chancellery on Sunday morning, Mr. Zelensky and Chancellor Olaf Scholz traded remarks of gratitude and reward. However their responses to some questions — particularly on fighter jets — mirrored that Kyiv remains to be struggling to achieve traction with Berlin and different Western allies on a few of its key calls for.
Mr. Zelensky was escorted to Berlin by German fighter jets for his first journey to Germany since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started greater than a yr in the past. He met first with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace and was then acquired with army honors by Mr. Scholz on the chancellery.
The grand reception got here a day after Germany had introduced its largest bundle of army assist but for Kyiv and because the two nations search to show the web page on months of rocky relations.
“German air protection methods, artillery, tanks and infantry preventing autos are saving Ukrainian lives and bringing us nearer to victory,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Germany is a dependable ally!”
Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Scholz are hoping to enhance ties after a yr marred by diplomatic sniping and wrangling over Berlin’s initially slower tempo in delivering weapons to Ukraine. Each Kyiv and Berlin are keenly conscious that their relationship will probably be extra necessary than ever forward of Ukraine’s looming counteroffensive towards Russia, by which an inflow of subtle Western-supplied weapons is anticipated to play a key function.
Mr. Scholz mentioned that the Ukrainian chief’s go to despatched a “robust message” and vowed that Germany would supply assist — together with weapons — towards Russian aggression for “as long as necessary.”
Talking after one-on-one talks with Mr. Scholz, Mr. Zelensky advised journalists that the brand new German arms bundle introduced the day before today, totaling 2.7 billion euros, or about $2.95 billion, was “essential and robust assist.”
However underlining his quest for ever extra highly effective and complicated weapons, Mr. Zelensky famous that Germany was now Ukraine’s second largest backer after the USA. “We’re working to convey Germany to first place on that,” he mentioned at a information convention.
It was not clear whether or not the weapons pledged within the new bundle would arrive in time for Ukraine’s a lot anticipated counteroffensive towards Russian forces. When requested on the information convention whether or not Ukraine had acquired what was essential to mount an offensive, Mr. Zelensky mentioned “just a few extra visits and it will likely be adequate.”
The Ukrainian authorities has repeatedly urged its allies to produce fighter jets, and Mr. Zelensky advised journalists on Sunday that on his current visits to European capitals he had pushed to create a “fighter jet coalition” and had requested Berlin to assist that effort.
However Mr. Scholz evaded any direct reply to that message, pointing as a substitute to the weapons Germany had already offered and in addition pledged within the newest bundle. “That’s what we as Germans are specializing in now,” he mentioned. Assist for Ukraine will proceed “for so long as it takes,” he added, telling journalists that the 2 international locations had “excellent relations.”
Mr. Zelensky’s current journey — his journey to Germany adopted a go to to Rome — stands in stark distinction to earlier within the warfare, when his choice to remain in Kyiv regardless of the Russian onslaught grew to become an emblem of Ukrainian defiance. It displays the Ukrainian chief’s efforts to bolster relations with European nations at a time when China has been positioning itself as a possible peacemaker within the battle. In February, Beijing issued what it described as a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine, although Western officers criticized it as missing substance.
In April, President Xi Jinping of China had a telephone name with Mr. Zelensky, the primary because the full scale invasion started. China’s prime diplomat, Qin Gang, visited Europe final week, and on Monday a Chinese language authorities envoy will start a visit that’s scheduled to incorporate stops in Ukraine and Russia in an try to assist negotiate an finish to the warfare.
However Western officers have expressed skepticism over Beijing’s skill to barter given its deep ties to Russia, which have spurred considerations in Europe and the USA that China as a substitute would possibly in reality act to assist Russia’s warfare effort.
The journey additionally comes amid considerations amongst European officers that American assist for Ukraine might wane if a Republican is elected president subsequent yr. Some Ukrainian and German officers privately have mentioned that Mr. Zelensky could also be hoping to influence Mr. Scholz to play a extra influential function main European assist for the warfare and in any potential peace negotiations. However the chancellor has proved reluctant to take up a bigger function.
The Ukrainian authorities has mentioned its preconditions for any peace negotiations embrace a whole Russian withdrawal from all of Ukraine’s territory and an finish to hostilities. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has proven no indicators of willingness to make concessions.
Mr. Scholz voiced assist on Sunday for the Ukrainian place — most likely an effort to allay earlier considerations from Kyiv and different critics that he and French President Emmanuel Macron would possibly attempt to strain Ukraine into an settlement.
“Ukraine already rightly and with our full assist calls for that this can not imply merely freezing the warfare and {that a} dictate peace is formulated from the Russian aspect,” he mentioned at a information convention. “Russia has to withdraw its troops, with out that, it gained’t work.”
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Scholz traveled collectively to the western German metropolis of Aachen, the place Mr. Zelensky was scheduled to obtain the celebrated Charlemagne award. The award is bestowed on folks deemed to have finished probably the most to advertise European unity.
Earlier winners have included Winston Churchill, Pope Francis, Angela Merkel and Invoice Clinton. The judges’ choice to award the prize to Mr. Zelensky and the folks of Ukraine underscored each how the warfare has united Europeans and the irony that Ukraine isn’t part of the European Union, regardless of Kyiv’s robust entreaties to affix.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Vivek Shankar contributed reporting.
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