The Greens politician first got an idea of the situation in the Butscha suburb on Tuesday.
(Photo: dpa)
Kyiv Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is the first German cabinet member to travel to the capital Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The Greens politician first got an idea of the situation in the Butscha suburb on Tuesday.
More than 400 bodies were found there after the Russian troops withdrew – some with their hands tied behind their backs. Baerbock was received by an employee of the German embassy at his home.
The Minister was accompanied by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. In the afternoon, among other things, a conversation between Baerbock and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitro Kuleba was planned.
The minister also wanted to reopen the German embassy in Kyiv, which had been closed since mid-February. The last embassy employees sent to Poland left on February 25 and continued to work partly from there and partly from Berlin.
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Germany is one of the last western countries to announce the reopening of its embassy in Kyiv. On Sunday, the United States and Canada announced the return of embassy staff. Before that, representations of the EU, France, Italy, Great Britain, Austria and other countries had already been reopened in Kyiv. Only Japan, which has not yet announced the reopening of its embassy, is missing from the group of G7 states of the leading democratic industrial nations.
Discussions about visits by German politicians
In recent weeks, there have been many discussions about visits by German politicians to Ukraine. An invitation from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who wanted to travel to Kyiv together with the presidents of Poland and the three Baltic states, caused considerable resentment in Berlin.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) described Steinmeier’s uninvitation as an obstacle to his own trip to Kyiv. After Steinmeier and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski cleared up the irritation in a phone call last week, Scholz announced that Baerbock would be traveling soon. It was initially unclear whether and when Scholz could travel to Kyiv.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) described Steinmeier’s uninvitation as an obstacle to his own trip to Kyiv.
(Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker)
On Sunday, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) visited Kyiv as the second highest representative of the state after the Federal President. Before her was the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz in Kyiv last Tuesday.
Selensky had invited the chancellor for May 9th – on this Monday Russia celebrated the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Selenski had stated that Scholz could take a “very strong political step” and come to the Ukrainian capital that day. However, the Chancellor had decided not to travel.
More: Read the current developments in the Ukraine war in the live blog