Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has again criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-November, DPA reported, BTA reported.
Zelensky, speaking at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor in Kiev, said he feared that Scholz's phone call with Putin - the first in nearly two years - could lead to a breach of the Kremlin's international isolation and a weakening of diplomatic pressure on the Russian leader.
"I think that after the first call comes the second, third, fifth, because every state leader wants to take the initiative," Zelensky said. "I don't think this strengthens Ukraine," he added. At the same time, however, the Ukrainian president stressed that Kiev has much more in common with Berlin than differences.
Earlier today, Scholz said at a joint press conference with Zelensky after their meeting in Kiev that he had told Putin that Russia should end its war in Ukraine, Reuters notes.
"In my conversation with Putin, I told him that Ukraine has the right to be an independent sovereign state. I stated that Russia should end its war in Ukraine and withdraw its troops," said the German Chancellor. In turn, Zelensky stressed Ukraine's need for more air defense systems to protect important sites from Russian missile attacks. "We are trying to protect more than twenty special facilities, we simply do not have enough (air defense) systems for such a massive missile attack," the Ukrainian head of state said.
During his visit to the Ukrainian capital, Scholz successfully dodged questions related to Ukraine's desire to receive an invitation to join NATO and reiterated Berlin's refusal to supply Kiev with long-range "Taurus" cruise missiles, DPA notes.
The German Chancellor said that no new resolutions on Ukraine's possible membership in NATO were needed, since the path for Ukraine to join the alliance had been outlined at previous summits in Vilnius and Washington. At the NATO summits in 2023 and 2024 However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries only confirmed that Ukraine should become a member of the alliance at some point, but not when exactly.
Zelensky continues his ongoing drive to quickly bring his country under the NATO umbrella, and over the weekend he said that Ukraine's membership in the alliance could help end the war by protecting the country from new Russian aggression in the event of a ceasefire agreement being signed, DPA notes. Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Sybiga insisted that Kiev participate in the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels later this week.
Sholz sparked speculation on social media upon his arrival in the Ukrainian capital - but it had nothing to do with the financial aid packages, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
Instead of the usual leather briefcase - Scholz's trademark, which he says he has had for decades - the German chancellor was seen carrying a silver suitcase with him as he stepped onto the platform at the Kiev train station.
Some internet users joked that the suitcase might have contained a thermos of coffee and sandwiches, while others suggested that Scholz had not brought anything in the suitcase, but had come to pick something up. Another popular online speculation was that the chancellor might be personally delivering the last package of weapons promised to Ukraine worth 650 million euros in the briefcase.
Other users are wondering whether the silver suitcase also contains the leather briefcase that Scholz bought when he started working as a lawyer about 40 years ago, as he himself revealed in a 2022 post on "Instagram".
"Some of my colleagues or employees think it's worn out. I call it patina. With each passing year, I like the briefcase more and more," he said at the time.
At a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, one of the journalists asked Scholz what was in the suitcase. "What details are you interested in?", Scholz asked, then stated that "it's mostly travel supplies, laundry and other essentials".