Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a visit by Zelensky to Berlin, on 11 October 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv on Monday in a surprise first visit to the Ukrainian capital since 2022, he announced on X.
“Ukraine can rely on us. We say what we do, and we do what we say,” Scholz wrote, adding that he had travelled to Kyiv overnight “by train through a country that has been defending itself against a Russian war of aggression for over 1,000 days”.
Pledging that Germany would “remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe”, Scholz added that he would be announcing a new €650 million military aid package for Kyiv during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Scholz’s last visit to Kyiv came in June 2022, when he travelled to the Ukrainian capital alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to back Ukraine’s bid for EU candidate status.
Monday’s visit comes amid political turmoil in Germany, where a snap federal election has been called for February following the collapse of the three-party ruling coalition led by Scholz’s Social Democrats.
The German chancellor’s visit finds Ukraine is in its most vulnerable position since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, amid uncertainty over continued US support, with Zelensky warning in November that Ukraine could lose the war if US president-elect Donald Trump halts American aid to Kyiv.
Scholz faced backlash from Kyiv after placing a phone call to Vladimir Putin in November, a move that Zelensky described as having opened “Pandora’s box” by undermining Western efforts to isolate Russia.
While Germany has been Ukraine’s largest provider of military aid to Kyiv after the US, Scholz has faced criticism for what Ukrainian officials see as his overly cautious approach to arming Ukraine.
On Saturday, he criticised opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s proposal that Berlin supply Kyiv with German-made Taurus missiles should Vladimir Putin refuse an ultimatum to end the war, warning that doing so would amount to “playing Russian roulette with Germany’s security”.
