German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, December 2nd, pledging that Germany will continue to be Ukraine’s biggest supporter in Europe and announcing new military aid to Kyiv.
According to reports from Reuters, Scholz vowed that Germany will provide Ukraine with military equipment worth 650 million euros (approximately 683 million dollars) and will deliver it by December this year.
This is Scholz’s second visit to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Scholz stated, “Through my visit to Kyiv again, I hope to express support for Ukraine.”
He is set to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and will push for NATO to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance at a meeting in Brussels later this week.
In a post on social media platform X, he wrote, “Germany will continue to be Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe.”
Following the dissolution of the ruling coalition in November, Germany is set to hold early elections in February next year. Scholz is facing a tough reelection campaign.
In his policy of support towards Ukraine, Scholz has been under scrutiny from voters with two very different viewpoints. Some hope he will take more measures to assist Kyiv, while others want Germany to stop providing weapons and aid to Ukraine.
Currently, Germany is the second-largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States, but Scholz still maintains that Germany will not provide long-range missiles capable of striking targets deep within Russian territory.