Zelensky refused to meet German president, in Berlin react in shock

The German president has been clearly and certainly on the Ukraine side. Germany was and is still one of Ukraine's most staunch supporters, and this fact is closely linked to the long-term activities of German President”, a German government spokesman said.

The foreign policy spokeswoman of Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), Neils Schmidt, expressed dissatisfaction with Kyiv's decision. “This is more than inappropriate: we are friendly countries and the German president's visit together with the other presidents should be a positive signal”, Schmid said, adding that Kyiv's decision in Germany “is completely unintelligible”, Croatian news agency Index writes.

Steinmeier had planned to visit Kyiv along with the presidents of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, but the Ukrainian government rejected his goal and instead specifically invited German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss Germany's further military assistance to Ukraine.

Kyiv's reaction was also sharply criticised by the Union's largest opposition parliamentary group, CDU/CSU. Foreign policy spokesman Juergen Hard said it was a bad “for German-Ukrainian relations”. He asked the German Chancellor to call Ukrainian President Zelensky today.

Ukraine has on several occasions accused Steinmeier of being a former foreign minister and one of the SPD leaders responsible for Berlin's soft policy towards Moscow. A few days ago, Steinmeier admitted he made mistakes in the past in building relations between Germany and Russia and apologised for that.