After weeks of hesitation, a date for Chancellor Scholz’s visit to Kyiv seems to have been found. As the media unanimously report, he will travel to Ukraine on Thursday – together with the heads of state and government from Rome and Paris.
The Italian newspaper “La Stampa” reports that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will travel to Kyiv on Thursday with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. The “Business Insider” also gives June 16 as the date for the visit. The federal government does not want to confirm the trip on request. “There is no new status,” said a spokesman for Scholz. The Chancellor is in constant contact with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It was already reported at the weekend that the German-French-Italian government trio would travel together to the Ukrainian capital this week – albeit without specifying a date. The federal government did not want to confirm these reports either.
Since the beginning of the war, numerous heads of state and government have traveled to Kyiv to demonstrate their solidarity with the country attacked by Russia. Weeks ago, Ukrainian President Zelenskyj also invited Scholz to Kyiv. However, the chancellor stated several times that he would only travel there if there were specific things to be discussed – such as further arms deliveries.
Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, once again reminded us of this requirement: “Unfortunately, without German heavy weapons, we will not be able to break Russia’s enormous military superiority and save the lives of soldiers and civilians,” he said. “The Ukrainians expect that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will announce a new aid package for German armaments during his visit to Kyiv, which should definitely include Leopard 1 main battle tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles that can be delivered immediately.”
According to “Business Insider”, it is also possible that Scholz, Macron and Draghi will comment positively on Ukraine’s possible EU accession. The country hopes that the EU will declare it a candidate country at its summit on June 23-24 – just ahead of the G7 summit on June 26-28. So far, Germany and France have been considered skeptics of this idea.
