During a telephone conversation in May, Germany President Frank-Walter Steinmeier demanded that the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky explain why his visit to Kyiv was unexpectedly canceled in April, the Spiegel newspaper writes.
According to the publication, on April 12, President of Poland Andrzej Duda agreed on the visit of Steinmeyer to Ukraine. There were no objections from the Ukrainian side, and the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrei Ermak even spoke approvingly about this.
But the day before the President of Germany had to go, Ermak allegedly called the ambassador of Poland and told him that there was no need to take Steinmeier to Kyiv. At the same time, Zelensky allegedly refused a conversation with a German colleague who was waiting for her A few hours after that, the German ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldguzen received a note that noted that Steinmeier’s visit to Kyiv would be “more substantial” if he arrived separately from other presidents.
Then this caused Berlin’s indignation and became public, but, as Spiegel notes, the German side immediately decided to defuse the tension. The Foreign Political Advisor of Steinmeier through the Ukrainian ambassador Andrei Melnik agreed on a telephone conversation with Zelensky.
It took place on May 5 and lasted 45 minutes. It was publicly reported that the parties reached mutual understanding – the president of Ukraine at the beginning of the conversation itself apologized, said that there was a “significant misunderstanding”, and invited the German colleague to come to Ukraine on May 8.