German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports the German news agency dpa.
This marks Scholz’s first visit to Ukraine in two and a half years; his last trip was in June 2022 with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The current visit was unannounced. Upon arriving in Kyiv, Scholz said that Ukraine has been “heroically defending itself against Russia’s relentless war of aggression for more than 1,000 days,” adding that Germany “remains Ukraine’s most steadfast supporter in Europe.” Scholz said he would announce an additional 650 million euros (over $670 million) in military aid to be delivered in December, reported Der Spiegel.
On November 15, Scholz held his first phone call in nearly two years with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a statement released after the call, Germany’s government said that Scholz urged Putin to end Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and withdraw Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. The Kremlin, in turn, described the conversation as a “detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine.” According to Reuters, Zelensky had tried to dissuade Scholz from speaking with Putin.