Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touched down in Germany Sunday morning forward of talks to safe new Western weaponry for his nation and to shore up help amongst European allies.
“Already in Berlin,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter. “Weapons. Highly effective package deal. Air protection. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Safety,” he added in reference to his priorities for the go to, which comes on the heels of conferences in Rome on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis.
Signing a visitor e book forward of assembly high German officers, Zelenskyy wrote that “collectively we are going to win and produce peace again to Europe,” hailing Berlin as a “true pal and dependable ally.”
Following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, the 2 leaders are anticipated to fly to town of Aachen, the place Zelenskyy will accumulate the Worldwide Charlemagne Prize, awarded to him in December for the protection of “Europe and European values.”
Ukraine on Saturday mentioned it had made a sequence of strategic positive aspects across the city of Bakhmut, the place its forces have confronted a fierce Russian onslaught for weeks. Based on CNN, U.S. officers consider Kyiv is conducting “shaping operations” to put the foundations for a significant counteroffensive to take again its territory.
Forward of Zelenskyy’s go to to Berlin, the German authorities on Saturday introduced a brand new package deal of navy help price an estimated €2.7 billion, which would be the nation’s largest supply of arms to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his all-out invasion in February 2022.
“All of us want for a speedy finish to this horrible and unlawful battle,” German Protection Minister Boris Pistorius mentioned. “Sadly, this isn’t but foreseeable.”
Whereas Kyiv officers had beforehand hit out at Berlin over a reluctance to produce navy {hardware} and its dependence on Russian oil and gasoline imports, the nation has since emerged as one of many largest exporters of arms and armor to Ukraine.
The most recent package deal consists of 30 Leopard-1 A5 fundamental battle tanks, 4 new IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft rocket launchers, dozens of armored personnel carriers and different fight automobiles, 18 self-propelled Howitzers and a whole bunch of unarmed recon drones.
Zelenskyy’s final go to to Germany, attending the Munich Safety Convention in February 2022, got here simply days earlier than Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On the high-profile protection occasion, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris had warned that Europe confronted “a decisive second in historical past” and pledged help for Kyiv if Russia attacked.
