BERLIN (Reuters) – German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with the Ukrainian government to discuss further aid and assess the military situation, the DPA news agency reported.
“It is important for me to show with this trip that we continue to actively support Ukraine,” Pistorius, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, told DPA.
The German defence ministry confirmed the visit.
Germany is among Ukraine’s top military backers in its war against Russia.
There is debate over Berlin’s support for Ukraine ahead of Germany’s snap election on Feb. 23, particularly as the incoming U.S. presidency of Donald Trump puts pressure on Europe to boost its own defences.
Trump is set to be sworn in for a second term as U.S. president on Jan. 20.
Pistorius’s trip to Kyiv comes a day after he visited Warsaw, where he met his counterparts from Germany, Poland, Britain, France and Italy.
“It is a signal that Germany, as the largest NATO country in Europe, stands by Ukraine. Not alone, but with the Group of Five and many other allies,” he was quoted as saying upon arriving in Kyiv.
(Reporting by Rachel More and Alexander Ratz in Berlin, editing by Thomas Seythal, Kirsti Knolle)
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