After aid confusion

Berlin: Selenskyj arrives for a one-on-one meeting

Selenskyj and Scholz plan one-on-one talks.(Bild: AFP/Britta Pedersen)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Friday. Berlin recently gave the impression that it wanted to gradually reduce its financial support for Kiev.

"The Federal Chancellor will meet the Ukrainian President on Friday afternoon for a one-on-one meeting in Frankfurt am Main," a government spokesperson in Berlin announced on Thursday. A new meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group will also take place on Friday at the Ramstein US military base near Frankfurt.

Der Spiegel" reported that Selenskyj will also take part in this meeting of the defense ministers. The Ukrainian president wants to personally ask the allies for more weapons for the fight against Russia. According to information from Berlin, this is primarily about long-range missiles and more air defense.

Letter caused a stir
A dispute within the German "traffic light" government recently made international headlines. Finance Minister Christian Lindner stated in a letter that the budgets had been exhausted and that the maximum limits had to be strictly adhered to. No further orders would be placed at present.

At the meeting at the US air force base in Ramstein, Selenskyj wanted to impressively describe the seriousness of the situation in the war against Russia, "Der Spiegel" further reported. In recent months, the Ukrainian President has repeatedly demanded that the Western allies lift their restrictions on the use of supplied weapons against targets on Russian territory.

Since the Ukrainian advance in the western Russian region of Kursk at the beginning of August, Moscow has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine. Only on Tuesday, at least 55 people were killed and over 300 injured in one of the most devastating attacks since the start of the war in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, according to the latest Ukrainian figures.