Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has invited Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Ukraine for a second time. That said the outgoing Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk in an interview with the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit".
Selenskyj had already issued the first invitation to Steinmeier in May after a serious diplomatic crisis. A few weeks after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Steinmeier wanted to travel to the Ukrainian capital at short notice in April, but Kyiv turned him down. At the time, Steinmeier had planned to travel to Ukraine with his Polish and Baltic counterparts. Immediately before the start of the trip, the Federal President in Poland, according to his own statements, had to “take note” that his presence in Kyiv was “not desired”.
At the time, those familiar with Ukrainian-German relations suspected that Kyiv wanted to take a stand against Steinmeier's role as mediator between Russia and Germany and advocate of the project to set up the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which he has since described as a mistake.
In the May phone call between Selenskyj and Steinmeier, the irritations from the past were cleared up, as a spokeswoman for the Federal President said at the time. Steinmeier had expressed his "solidarity, respect and support for the courageous struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian aggressor" to Zelenskyy. Both presidents described the conversation as "very important" and "very good" and agreed to "remain in close contact".
At the time, WELT learned from circles in the Office of the Federal President that Selenskyj had “cordially” invited the “entire head of state”, the Federal President, the government and the Chancellor, to Kyiv. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has meanwhile traveled to Kyiv. A trip by Federal President Steinmeier has not yet taken place, and nothing is known about plans.
“We are still waiting for his visit to Kyiv. In the last phone call, President Zelenskyj personally invited him for the second time," said the Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk to the "Zeit".
