German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday that he had offered a visit to Ukraine with Baltic leaders, but the trip was “not wanted” by Kyiv.
Steinmeier said Polish President Andrzej Duda suggested the two leaders travel to the Ukrainian capital together with the heads of state of the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to “send a strong signal of common European solidarity with Ukraine.”
“I was ready for it. But apparently […] that was not what was wanted in Kyiv,” Steinmeier told reporters while visiting Warsaw.
The German president is considered to have had close relations with Russia in his previous political roles. Ukraine has previously been critical of Steinmeier over his links with Russia and the leading role he played as former foreign minister in improving relationships with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The German president’s comments come as other European leaders have made visits to Kyiv. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer made separate visits to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
CNN