Steinmeier on the phone with Zelensky – an invitation to Kyiv to “lead the whole country”
Selinsky invites Steinmeier and invites senior government officials
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone. He is said to have invited Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Schultz to Kyiv.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wanted to travel to Ukraine as early as April – but was subsequently rejected in a media-effective manner. Now he made clear the annoyance in a phone call with President Selinsky. He was not the only one who received a new invitation.
BPresident Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the federal president said the annoyance of the past had been erased. Steinmeier expressed his “solidarity, respect and support for the brave struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian aggressor” for Silinsky.
Both presidents described the conversation as “very important” and “very good”. The two presidents agreed to stay in close contact.”
From the circles of the office of the Federal President, WELT learned that Selenskyj had “warmly” invited the “entire head of state”, the federal head, the government and the chancellor to Kyiv.
After the phone call, Zelensky wrote on Twitter: “Had a good, constructive and important conversation with Federal President Steinmeier. Thank you for the strong support for Ukraine. I expect it to deepen.”
Steinmeier wanted to travel to Kyiv in April – with the presidents of Poland and the three Baltic states. To the dismay of Berlin, Steinmeier was discharged at the last minute.
That is why Chancellor Olaf Schultz (SPD) has not wanted to go to Ukraine yet. “It is a problem of the rejection of the invitation of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in the hall,” Schulz said last Wednesday after a cabinet meeting in Schloss Messberg.
This made CDU president Friedrich Merz the first major German politician to be in the Ukrainian capital after the outbreak of the war. On Tuesday he met, among others, Silinsky and Mayor Vitali Klitschko. According to information from Spiegel, Meretz reportedly mediated the call during his visit. Participants in the conversation quoted Merz as saying that the blockade must be resolved
In response, Merz thanked the Ukrainian president for the invitation. “I am very grateful to President Selinsky for accepting my request for an invitation from the Federal President,” Merz told dpa in Berlin. “The path is now clear for personal meetings between the Federal President, Federal Chancellor and President Zelensky in Kyiv.”