German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz travelled to Kyiv on Tuesday for meetings with Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz made it clear that he would not visit Ukraine any time soon.
Mr Scholz has traded barbs with Ukrainian officials in recent weeks because of Kyiv’s refusal to invite German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who Ukraine accuses of close relations with Russia during his time as foreign minister.
“It can’t work that a country that provides so much military aid, so much financial aid … you then say that the president can’t come,” Mr Scholz told public broadcaster ZDF late on Monday.
Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin, Andrij Melnyk, responded on Tuesday by calling Mr Scholz’s refusal to visit “not very statesmanlike.”
“This is about the most brutal war of extermination since the Nazi invasion of Ukraine. It’s not kindergarten,” Mr Melnyk said.
Mr Merz, who leads former chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right Union bloc, visited the town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, to see the destruction caused by the Russian army.
Against a backdrop of shelled buildings, he expressed his “full admiration” for the Ukrainian military for having halted the Russian advance at Irpin, and pledged to help the town rebuild.
Mr Merz later met with senior officials including Mr Zelenskyy, saying afterwards that he had “extraordinarily good talks” with the Ukrainian President.
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A woman rescues some of her belongings from her house in Irpin, near Kyiv, which was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing in late March. AP -
A driver helps a woman board a bus at a reception centre for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP -
People fleeing Mariupol's Azovstal plant arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
A woman stands next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, after it was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing. AP -
People hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration in support of Mariupol defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A woman stands near her house that was destroyed by shelling in Sloboda, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
A mother and child in Lviv, Ukraine, wait to board transport destined for Przemysl, Poland. Getty Images -
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claps as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv via videolink. Reuters -
Firefighters work to extinguish flames after a Russian bombardment at a park in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
The television tower is illuminated in the national colors of the Ukrainian flag to show solidarity with the country at the Olympic Park in Munich, southern Germany. AFP -
Flooded gardens and fields are shown in Demydiv, Ukraine. To keep Russian armoured columns at bay, Ukrainian forces released water from a nearby hydroelectric dam to intentionally flood Demydiv, a village north of Kyiv. The decision was effective, but efforts to drain the area are complicated. Getty Images -
A damaged Orthodox icon is seen in the corner of local resident Yurii's heavily damaged house in Fenevychi, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Valentyna, 71, stands by her cat, who was injured in the fighting, in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Yurii, 53, stands in his heavily damaged house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Evacuees from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, which has suffered heavy shelling, ride on a bus in Raihorodok. AFP -
A man delivers loaves of bread to a woman in the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
Nazar, right, boards a bulletproof bus to evacuate with his family from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
A dog chases a hare by the wall of a burnt house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Nine-year-old Galina, right, and Nazar, 8, arrive with their families in Raihorodok. AFP -
Natalia Pototska, 43, cries as her grandson Matviy looks on in Zaporizhzhia. AP -
Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military meets his wife Oksana, who fled from the Russian-occupied Novomykhailivka village, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod to Kyiv. Reuters -
Buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodianka, in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Reuters -
Volunteers carry an elderly woman in a blanket during the evacuation of a frontline village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A Ukrainian man walks past the turret of a Russian tank next to a destroyed petrol station in the village of Skybyn, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Andrii Fedorov hugs his son Makar as they are reunited in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after the boy and his mother fled besieged Mariupol. AP -
Volunteers at the Help Ukraine Center in Lublin, south-eastern Poland. More than 3 million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland. EPA -
Police officers deliver loaves of bread to residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which is being heavily shelled. AFP -
Savelii, 10, mourns at the grave of his father, who died protecting his city as a member of the Territorial Defence, in Irpin, Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian soliders ride on a truck to a resting place after fighting in the front line for two months near Kramatorsk. AFP -
A shopkeeper clears shelves before closing up in Sviatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion. AFP -
Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant as part of an evacuation of Mariupol arrive at temporary accommodation in Bezimenne, Donetsk region. Reuters -
Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, who was part of an evacuation of Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet again in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A pro-Russian troop stands guard in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A picture taken during a visit to Mariupol organised by the Russian military shows Russian serviceman on patrol outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, south-eastern Ukraine. EPA -
A woman is assisted during the UN-led evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, after nearly two months of siege warfare on Mariupol by Russia. Reuters -
Civilians gather for humanitarian aid, distributed by the Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen are seen near a T-80 tank captured from Russian troops in Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier takes a break from the conflict and tries to pet a stork in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP
Political rivals accused him of using the visit to score points against Mr Scholz days before two German state elections in which Mr Merz’s Christian Democratic Union is hoping to retain power.
The Union bloc last week joined Germany’s three governing parties in a non-binding vote backing the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
German media report that the government is planning to approve further armaments for Ukraine soon, including large, self-propelled howitzers.
Critics, particularly on the far-left and right, have argued against providing weapons to Ukraine, saying Germany risks being drawn into a conflict with Russia.
German authorities say they have recorded the arrival of about 400,000 refugees from Ukraine since the start of the war.
