Kyiv:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will land in Kiev on Monday before visiting Moscow to try to avert a “very critical” threat of a Russian invasion that would lead to the worst crisis in Europe since the Cold War.
Scholz’s visit comes with Kiev seeking an urgent meeting with Russia to explain why it has sent more than 100,000 soldiers to Ukraine’s borders while discussing post-Soviet expansion with NATO. countries that once fell under the Kremlin’s domain.
The West has remained united and defiant in the face of Putin’s demands for binding security guarantees that would result in the US-led defense alliance withdrawing its troops and barring Ukraine’s potential membership.
But US intelligence worries that the weeks of crisis talks have given Russia time to prepare a major offensive should Putin make the final decision to attack Ukraine.
“We are digging trenches for Ukrainian soldiers to quickly jump into and defend in case the Russians attack,” 15-year-old Mykhailo Anopa told AFP near the front lines separating Kiev-occupied territory from that under the control of Moscow-backed insurgents in the separatist group. East.
Ukraine demands answers
Washington on Sunday reaffirmed its warning that Russia was now ready to strike “any moment” with an attack likely to begin with “a significant barrage of rockets and bombings.”
Ukraine requested a formal meeting with Moscow and members of the OSCE pan-European security body “explaining the reinforcement and movement of Russian troops along our border”.
Scholz also tweeted before flying to Kiev that Germany was demanding “immediate signs of de-escalation” from Russia.
The White House said US President Joe Bident and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky agreed in an appeal Sunday “on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence.”
The Ukrainian presidency said Zelensky had also urged Biden to visit Kiev “in the coming days” as a show of moral support.
The White House made no mention of the invitation in the readout of the 50-minute conversation. The United States on Saturday ordered all non-emergency personnel to leave the embassy in Kiev.
German Scholz sounded determined in his decision to support Ukraine and hit Russia “immediately” with punitive sanctions if it went to war.
“We assess the situation as very critical, very dangerous,” added a German government source.
tough journey
Germany is playing a central role in mediation efforts around the debilitating conflict in the Russian-backed separatist east of Ukraine, which has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
But Germany’s close business relations with Moscow and its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas imports have been a source of lingering concern for both Kiev’s pro-Western leaders and Biden’s team.
Scholz has warned Russia not to “underestimate our unity and determination,” but has also hedged against unequivocally supporting Biden’s pledge to “end” Russia’s new Nord Stream 2 gas connection to Germany.
Kiev is also angry with Berlin for not joining some of its NATO allies in supplying arms to Ukraine.
Berlin’s ambassador to Ukraine Andriy Melnik was outraged at “German hypocrisy” in a tweet Sunday, in which he mentioned that Germany “exported dual-use goods to Russia” but “did not offer weapons for Ukraine’s self-defense”.
Scholz’s visit to Moscow on Tuesday also follows tit-for-tat closures of the German-language channel of the Russian RT network and the Moscow office of Germany’s Deutsche Welle.
Concerns about air travel
Despite diplomatic pressure, more and more Western countries are withdrawing staff from their embassies in Kiev and urging their citizens to leave immediately.
But departures could be complicated by the looming threat of air closures over Ukraine due to mounting risks to airlines.
Dutch airline KLM is this weekend the first major airline to indefinitely suspend flights to Kiev.
Ukrainian budget airline SkyUp said its flight from Portugal to Kiev was to land in Moldova on Sunday after the plane’s Irish leasing company withdrew its permission to cross to Ukraine.
SkyUp said European leasing companies require Ukrainian airlines to return their planes to EU airspace within 48 hours.
Industry analysts believe that other international airlines may soon also ban flights to Ukraine due to rising costs for insurers.
The travel industry continues to be plagued by the memory of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down in July 2014 while on a flight near the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine.
All 298 passengers and crew on board the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight were killed.
The diplomatic setback has also affected the personnel of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) monitoring mission in Ukraine.
The mission said that “certain participating states” had asked their personnel to leave Ukraine “within the next few days”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)