A planned visit to Kyiv by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was not welcomed by Ukraine, he said on Tuesday, following a report that President Volodymyr Zelensky was critical of Steinmeier’s historic advocacy of Western rapprochement with Russia, writes Reuters
Steinmeier had planned to visit Kyiv with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and the presidents of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia “to send a strong signal of European solidarity with Ukraine there,” he told journalists during a visit to Warsaw.
“I was ready for that. But apparently – and I have to admit – that was not wanted in Kyiv,” he said, without elaborating.
It was not immediately clear whether the other European leaders would visit without Steinmeier. Ukrainian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bild newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Zelenskiy had rejected Steinmeier’s plans to visit due to his close relations with Russia in recent years and his years of support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a project designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany but which has since been cancelled.
