Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Germany on Sunday to meet with the leaders of Europe's largest economy, a government source in Berlin told AFP on Saturday.
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This trip will come a day after Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Rome on Saturday and while the German government has just announced new arms deliveries to Kiev worth 2.7 billion euros, including tanks, armored vehicles, drones and air defense systems.
The program of the visit has not yet been officially unveiled but, according to leaks in the German media, the Ukrainian head of state is expected to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Charlemagne Prize
Volodymyr Zelensky is also to be awarded the Charlemagne Prize during the day, a distinction rewarding a particularly significant commitment to cartel in Europe.
However, it is not yet certain that he will go to Aachen to receive him in person. This city is located in western Germany near the Belgian border, hundreds of kilometers from Berlin.
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For the first time in its long history, the Charlemagne Prize recognises with this award that freedom and the fundamental principles of Europe must if necessary be defended by force," the head of the committee organising the prize, Jürgen Linden, told the German daily Tagesspiegel this week.
On the eve of Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Germany, Berlin announced a new €2.7 billion military aid plan for Ukraine, including the delivery of numerous tanks, armored vehicles and air defense systems. "We all wish for a quick end to Russia's atrocious war against the Ukrainian people, but unfortunately it is not in sight. That is why Germany will provide all the help it can, as long as necessary," Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.
According to the weekly Der Spiegel, this is the largest package of arms deliveries from Berlin to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
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However, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrij Melnyk said he was not going far enough. "It is a pity that most of the promised defense systems are old, they are not modern tanks or armored vehicles of the German army, such as Leopard 2 or Boxer models," the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany told Welt TV. "It is also disappointing to see that the German government continues to refuse to cross the red lines they have set for itself, especially regarding the delivery of fighter jets, this taboo must be urgently broken," he added.