KYIV, (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced new military aid for Ukraine during a rare visit yesterday that he said sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Berlin would stand by Kyiv for as long as needed in the war.
The visit, his first to Kyiv since the early months of Russia’s 2022 invasion, comes ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House and weeks after Scholz’s governing coalition in Berlin collapsed, threatening his future as chancellor.
The political upheaval in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, adds to a growing sense of uncertainty in Ukraine, with Russian troops advancing ever faster in the east. It is unclear how much Kyiv’s European partners can step up support for Ukraine if Trump cuts help from the United States, its most powerful ally.
“My message from Kyiv to Putin: we’re in this for the long haul. Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will stand by the Ukrainian people – for as long as it takes,” Scholz wrote on X.
Scholz used the trip to announce further equipment deliveries worth 650 million euros ($682.37 million) to arrive this month. The package includes IRIS-T air defence systems, Leopard 1 tanks and armed drones, a defence ministry spokesperson said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said his talks with Scholz lasted more than 2-1/2 hours.
“We agreed at the meeting with the chancellor that Germany will be with Ukraine in the future exactly as it should be, regardless of what happens in global politics and whatever changes in mood there may be,” he said.
Scholz and Zelenskiy reviewed drones manufactured by Ukrainian and German firms at an undisclosed location, visited a hospital and spoke to wounded service members and medical staff.
