Federal president of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a visit to Ukraine, which was planned back in April this year. As part of his schedule, the president visited the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions and also met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During his stay in Ukraine, president Steinmeier was able to look at Ukraine through the eyes of its people, who live daily under shelling and are in danger of dying. It is noteworthy that during the tour of the city of Chernihiv, an air raid alarm was heard, and the entire delegation had to flee to the bomb shelter urgently. There, Steinmeier and his team spent an hour and a half and were able to communicate with Ukrainians who were hiding from a rocket attack in the same shelter.
After returning to Germany, president Steinmeier told the Tagesschau media that he was "shocked by the destruction and the stories of the civilian population."
"Things are much worse than we imagine in Germany," Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "Of course, everyone who can think and sympathize wants the fighting to stop," the president said, adding that a just peace "means that Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity must be preserved. We are not at that point yet."
The president added that he still sees no signs that Moscow is ready for fair (rather than ultimatum) negotiations with Ukraine and the West, "considering Moscow's decision to break into a neighbouring country, a complete disregard for the freedom of the "fraternal people" (ironically, but this is how Russian propaganda calls Ukrainians — ed) a violation of international law."
During a press conference with president Volodymyr Zelensky, Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced his intention to transfer the MARS II MLRS, 4 units of Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers to Ukraine in the next couple of days and recalled the upcoming batch of IRIS-T.
