German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had an “open, friendly conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with Dutch Foreign Minister Hoekstra,” a source in the German delegation said.
“The talk focused on military and reconstruction aid to Ukraine, as well as how to resolve the blockade of much-needed global food exports from Ukraine,” the media was told.
Germany will reopen its embassy in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Tuesday during a visit to Kiev.
The embassy will begin operating with limited capacity, Baerbock said, and the German ambassador in Kiev, Anka Feldhusen, will once again be the German representative in Kiev.
In her remarks, the foreign minister also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the victim of self-deception.
“He believed that our European values of freedom and humanity make us decadent and weak. Ukrainians have proven that in reality it is the other way around. Your will for freedom makes you strong,” said Baerbock.
“And the knowledge that you are fighting for your humanity against an army that knows only cynicism and terror. Therefore, your struggle marks a turning point in the world conflict between liberal democracy and autocratic regimes,” she continued.
Baerbock also visited Babyn Yar, a historic site in Ukraine where mass killings were committed by Nazi troops during World War II. In March, Russian missiles hit the memorial, located on the northern outskirts of Kiev, which commemorates the site where more than 33,000 Jews were shot in 1941.
Zelensky, who is Jewish, tweeted at the time that the Russian attack “repeated history”.
Zahid Mahmood of DailyExpertNews contributed to this post.