Surprisingly, German Foreign Minister Annaline Beerbock arrived in Kyiv on Saturday morning, her second visit to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war in February.
Burbock, carrying a small suitcase, was photographed getting off the train that was taking her to Kyiv on Saturday morning, at the start of her important visit.
Upon arrival at Kyiv Central Station, Burbock explained: “Today I went to Kyiv to show that Ukraine can continue to count on us.”
She added that she wanted to make it clear that “Berlin will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary through arms, humanitarian and financial support.”
In mid-May, Beerbock became the first member of the German government to visit Kyiv since the start of the war. At that time, the head of the Foreign Ministry reopened the German embassy, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and visited the partially destroyed suburbs of Bucha and Irben.
“Putin will fail”
In addition, the Green Party foreign minister wants to send a signal about the danger of “war fatigue” in Germany, given the energy crisis that hit the latter before winter.
At this point, the Foreign Minister said: “It is clear to me that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is counting on our fatigue to sympathize with Ukraine’s suffering.”
“He (Putin) believes that he can divide our societies with lies and blackmail us with energy resources, and that he can drain our energy to protect himself from this attack and on the values of all of us,” she said.
She went on to say that Putin’s calculations should not and will not work, adding that “because all of Europe knows that Ukraine is defending a peaceful regime on the continent.”
Burbock arrived in Ukraine on Saturday evening with a special train and a small delegation that left Poland for Kyiv due to the closure of airspace over Ukraine since the start of the war.
In Kyiv, Barbuk wants to hold talks with, among other things, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, while the rest of the German minister’s program in the Ukrainian capital is kept secret for security reasons.
During the visit, Barbok highlighted two important topics for her: German mine clearance assistance and support for the fight against war crimes committed during the war, according to the German newspaper Bild.
Weapon dilemma
During the visit, Ukrainian officials are likely to repeat the call for German heavy weapons.
During his visit to Germany last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyal called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to bring German Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
But Schultz replied that Germany wanted to focus on providing Ukraine with air defense systems and artillery, and, above all, not to do it alone, in a clear rejection of the Ukrainian request.
So far, no other NATO ally has sent Western-made main battle tanks to Ukraine.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht refuses to supply new weapons to Ukraine directly or through circular deliveries in cooperation with other European countries, fearing a blow to the stockpiles and combat capabilities of the German army.
At an international conference at the US air base at Ramstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the defense minister a few days ago refrained from making any other commitments on heavy weapons.
According to observers, the German government is in a difficult position regarding the supply of more weapons to Ukraine, especially heavy ones, in light of the reduction in the German army’s stocks of a number of important weapons and ammunition, which may affect the combat capability of the German army.
500 million euros
At the end of August, Germany announced that it would provide Ukraine with additional weapons worth about 500 million euros, noting that most of this weapons would be received by Kyiv from next year.
A representative of the German government said that Berlin would supply Ukraine, in particular, with three Iris-T air defense systems, “about ten tank-towing vehicles, 20 missile launchers mounted on pickup trucks,” as well as “precision-guided munitions and anti-missile projectiles.” – drone devices.
In early June, Berlin announced that it would supply Kyiv with the Iris-T air defense system manufactured by the German company Diehl, capable, according to Schulz, “to protect an entire large city from Russian air strikes.”
In the same month, the German Defense Minister announced the delivery of Howitzer 2000 self-propelled guns to Ukraine, which are very advanced in artillery confrontations and have great maneuverability.