The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, does not want to go to Kyiv until President Frank-Walter Steinmeier does so.
RBK-Ukraina reported this with reference to Tagesschau.
Scholz has been criticized for several weeks. It started when he hesitated to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons, but last week a decision was made to provide Ukraine with anti-aircraft tanks.
Scholz was also accused of not visiting Kyiv to show his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as many other heads of government did.
When asked when he would visit the capital of Ukraine, the chancellor said he considered it a "rather remarkable thing" that Steinmeier had not yet done so.
He did not object when ZDF Deputy Editor-in-Chief Bettina Schausten, who interviewed him, said that "the president should be the first to pay an official visit."
At the same time, Scholz said that he did not feel uncomfortable that the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, would visit Kyiv this week.
According to German media, Steinmeier wanted to visit Kyiv in April, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not invite him. Among the reasons for this are the close ties German politician had with Russia.
In his turn, the President of Ukraine stated that he had not received Steinmeier's request for a visit. And Scholz called Kyiv's decision offensive. However, he rejected accusations that Germany was in no hurry to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
Earlier, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ihor Zhovkva, said that every visit of foreign leaders to Ukraine today is "not just a symbol of support, they can bring real results. And in the case of the German leadership it could be either an oil embargo or new weapons supplies, especially heavy weapons".