KYIV, Ukraine — (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years Monday, just weeks after he was criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
That call came at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. In a major shift, Zelenskyy signalled Friday that an an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv's control could end "the hot stage of the war" in Ukraine.
Scholz's visit comes ahead of an early German election expected in February. As the campaign gets under way, Scholz has pointed to Germany’s status as Ukraine's second-biggest weapons supplier while also highlighting his “prudence” in working to prevent the war escalating and refusing to deliver Taurus long-range cruise missiles.
Scholz has been cautious about talk of fast-tracking NATO membership for Ukraine. In recent months, he has emphasized the importance of finding a path to peace, while stressing that it must not be chosen over Ukraine’s head.
Scholz said that in his meeting with Zelenskyy he will announce further military deliveries this month totaling 650 million euros.
“I would like to make clear here on the ground that Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe,” he said.
Despite that, Scholz was criticized by Zelenskyy in November for speaking to Putin in what appeared to be the first conversation with the sitting leader of a major Western power in nearly two years. In that call, Scholz urged Putin to be open to negotiations with Ukraine but the Russian leader said any peace deal should acknowledge Russia's territorial gains and security demands, including that Kyiv renounce joining NATO.
Zelenskyy suggested the call to Putin risked opening "a Pandora's box" and would only serve to make Russia less isolated. He traveled to Berlin in October to meet Scholz to drum up support for his "victory plan" to end the war in Ukraine on a tour of European capitals.
The plan included a suggestion that Ukraine receive a formal invitation to join NATO and a request that Kyiv be given permission to use long-range Western missiles to strike at military targets inside Russia.
Western nations granted permission for Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes with their weapons in November. Following the decision, Putin said Russia launched a strike on Ukraine with an unstoppable intermediate range ballistic missile dubbed the Oreshnik. It marked the first time that such a missile was used in the war or in any other conflict.
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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