Baerbock travels to Kiev – with what attitude?

Created: 2022-02-07Updated: 2022-02-07 09:25

By: Marvin Ziegele

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is traveling to Ukraine for the second time in three weeks.

It should again be about arms deliveries.

• The conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate.

• Ukraine asks Germany for arms supplies.

  Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock* travels to Kiev on Monday (February 7th, 2022).

• All information about Baerbock's visit to Ukraine in our news ticker.

Kiev – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock travels to Ukraine.

Parallel to the inaugural visit of Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD) in the USA*, meetings with Head of State Volodymyr Selenskyj and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba are on the program in the capital Kiev.

It is eagerly awaited what Annalena Baerbock will say about Ukraine's requests for arms deliveries.

Deliveries of weapons to crisis areas have so far been refused.

Shortly before Baerbock's trip, Ukraine submitted a list of weapon requests to the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense in view of the ongoing conflict with Russia*.

She asked for medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems, man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-drone guns, microwave destruction systems, electronic tracking systems, night vision goggles, surveillance cameras and ammunition.

According to the Ukrainian embassy in Berlin, these are "weapons systems of a defensive nature".

Annalena Baerbock: Ukraine asks for arms deliveries

The request is currently being examined, according to government circles.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, reiterated Kiev's demands.

"We need the latest weapons.

Germany can deliver that.

Germany is capable of doing that.”

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) travels to Ukraine.

(Archive photo) © Imago Images

"And to refuse that today means for us to let Ukraine down," said the diplomat on Sunday evening on the ARD program "Anne Will"*.

"We must recognize that we face the danger of a huge war in the middle of Europe," Melnyk warned.

Ukraine conflict: Foreign Minister Baerbock in Kiev

In addition to meeting Selenskyj and Kuleba, Annalena Baerbock wants to visit a memorial in Ukraine that commemorates the victims of a great famine in 1932/33.

At that time, several million people died.

A visit to a military hospital in Kiev, co-financed by Germany, is planned for Monday evening.

Baerbock then wants to travel to the east of the country Ukraine, where she wants to visit the front line between Ukrainian government troops and the Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass conflict area on Tuesday.

The minister was already in Ukraine in January.

(marv/dpa)