Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is confident that diplomats will resolve the scandal with the failed visit of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Ukraine, and this incident will not harm Ukrainian-German relations.
Kuleba said this at a joint press conference with Irish Foreign Affairs and Defense Minister Simon Coveney following their talks in Kyiv, Ukrainian News Agency said.
Kuleba noted that there are many working points in diplomacy that relate to the coordination of the formats of visits and their expected results, and when diplomats do this work, they always find mutually acceptable solutions.
When the nuances of work processes get into the media or unverified information appears in the media, then public discussions and scandals arise that interfere with work and create a negative background.
According to him, this is the situation that arose with Germany.
"I am sorry that a message from one of the German media, citing a source, caused the difficult situation that we now have, but in this regard, I want to say two things. First, Ukraine has great respect for Germany. We do not always agree with German politics in everything, but we respect Germany as a state, as a partner and it is absolutely obvious to us that the head of state, the President of Germany is one of the symbols of this state... And second: we are not interested in escalation, in aggravating bilateral relations, so I am sure that this situation will be resolved through diplomatic channels and there will be no harm to Ukrainian-German relations," the Minister said.
Kuleba stressed that Ukraine also expects the formation of a new German policy towards Ukraine under the current circumstances and expects such a new German policy from the new German government.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 13 at a briefing on the question of the failed visit to Ukraine of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that his office had not received a request for such a visit, and then added that Ukraine is ready to be a transit state if this issue is economic, not political, hinting at Steinmeier's proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a foreign media report, Steinmeier said the Ukrainian leadership had rejected his visit.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrii Melnyk said that Ukraine expects a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with decisions on the provision of heavy weapons and an embargo on the supply of oil and gas from Russia.
He stressed that now Scholz's visit is a priority for Ukraine, since it is the German Chancellor who makes the decisions that Ukraine expects, and Ukraine now has no time for protocol visits.
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