WAR IN UKRAINE
Zelensky Visits Germany, Now Ukraine’s No. 2 Backer
Once Russia’s close partner, Berlin has become Europe’s largest purveyor of weapons and money to Kyiv
BERLIN—Ukraine’s president visited Germany on Sunday for the first time since Russia attacked Ukraine last year, in a sign that the tense relation between Kyiv and its biggest military and financial backer in Europe is thawing.
Volodymyr Zelensky was received with full honors by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He will later travel to Aachen, in the country’s west, to receive a prestigious award for his contribution to European unity.
Berlin is currently the largest military and financial backer of Ukraine after the U.S., Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Scholz said in Berlin, providing more than 17 billion euros—equivalent to about $18.5 billion—in bilateral aid, on top of financing through multilateral organizations such as the European Union. Germany is also training Ukrainian troops and hosts one of the largest Ukrainian refugee communities abroad.
I n a joint press conference, Mr. Zelensky thanked German taxpayers for supporting Ukraine and for sheltering the more than one million Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Germany since the war started.
“Germany’s aid is saving lives…The people of Ukraine will always be grateful to the people of Germany for providing a chance for peace through your leadership,” Mr. Zelensky told Mr. Scholz.
“Heartfelt thanks go to the German people for your help, for every Ukrainian life saved.”
Mr. Scholz said that German support would continue for as long as necessary and that he would work with allies to make Russia accountable for what he said were the atrocities of a horrible war of aggression.
“We in Germany stand in full solidarity with Ukrainians,” Mr. Scholz said.
Mr. Scholz also said that Germany would support Ukraine’s bid to liberate all of its occupied territory, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Recent polls show German voters broadly support aiding Ukraine, and both Messrs. Scholz and Steinmeier are vocal backers of Mr. Zelensky. But both also hail from a party that for decades advocated close economic ties between Germany and Russia.
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These ties—Germany’s decadeslong dependence on Russian energy supplies, in particular—caused mistrust between Berlin and Kyiv in the early months of the war. Ukraine initially criticized Germany for its lack of military support while Berlin politicians privately doubted Kyiv would withstand the Russian offensive for more than a few weeks.
Tensions culminated when Mr. Zelensky disinvited Mr. Steinmeier from a visit to Kyiv in April last year, triggering a backlash in German media. The spat caused Mr. Scholz to cancel plans to visit Ukraine’s capital.
Both have since made the trip. In a further gesture, Mr. Scholz replaced his pacifist defense minister in January and replaced her with a vocal Kyiv supporter. Boris Pistorius, who has called for a military victory of Ukraine, has since gained plaudits in Kyiv for accelerating Germany’s military support for Ukraine.
The two countries have been working closely together on weapon procurement—Berlin has delivered dozens of main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, state-of-the-art air defenses and heavy artillery. Kyiv and Berlin are cooperating on establishing a tribunal that could try Russia’s top leaders, including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for war crimes.
Germany, the largest economy in Europe, could become even more central to Ukraine’s defense posture, both in the coming months and after the war.
German armaments firms are being contracted to deliver long-term supplies of materiel for Ukraine. Defense group Rheinmetall said last week that it wants to build a factory for armored vehicles, artillery and ammunition in Ukraine as part of a joint venture with Kyiv.
Diehl Defence, another weapons manufacturer, is now expanding capacities to supply Kyiv with the sophisticated Iris-T SLM air-defense system, with funding from the German government. Two of the systems, which Ukrainian officials said have a nearly 100% hit rate, have been delivered, and two will be supplied by early next year, while several more are set to be delivered at a yet undisclosed date. Berlin has yet to purchase the system for its own armed forces, in part because of its high cost.
From Berlin, Mr. Zelensky and his German hosts will travel to Aachen, where Mr. Zelensky will be awarded the International Charlemagne Prize for service to European unity, whose past recipients include former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis.
The president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will also attend.
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Y et despite the display of friendship, Kyiv and Berlin remain divided on a key issue concerning Ukraine’s future: its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as insurance against future Russian aggression.
The George W. Bush administration first put Ukrainian membership on NATO’s agenda in 2008. Ms. Merkel vetoed the bid at the time with France’s support. As a result, NATO extended a noncommittal invitation to Ukraine but didn’t kick off the process of accession.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year, the alliance and such key members as the U.S. and the U.K. have all called for Ukraine to join. Germany, however, remains opposed, according to several Western officials.
German officials argue that admitting a country at war with a nuclear power that occupies its territory would greatly escalate the risk of a confrontation between Russia and NATO.
NATO diplomats and officials are now working on a solution that would signal that Ukraine could join in the future and offer immediate assistance short of a membership. The offer will be presented at the July NATO summit in Lithuania, according to people familiar with the talks.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com
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