Navy honors for Ukraine's Zelensky as he visits Germany | World News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed with navy honors Sunday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he made his first go to to Germany since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Zelenskyy is visiting allies trying to find extra arms deliveries to help his nation fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by larger than a yr of devastating battle.

A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, the place he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

On the eve of his arrival — which goes down amid tight security — the German authorities launched a model new bundle of navy assist for Ukraine worth larger than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), along with tanks, anti-aircraft methods and ammunition.

“Already in Berlin. Weapons. Extremely efficient bundle. Air safety. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” Zelenskyy tweeted Sunday, in an apparent reference to the necessary factor priorities of his journey.

After initially hesitating to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has flip into certainly one of many largest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, along with Leopard 1 and a pair of battle tanks, and the delicate IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Trendy Western hardware is taken under consideration important if Ukraine is to attain its deliberate counteroffensive in opposition to Russian troops.

Zelenskyy first met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, who was snubbed by Kyiv last yr, apparently over his earlier shut ties to Russia, inflicting a chill in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany.

Since then, every Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine, assuring Zelenskyy of their help for his nation’s battle in opposition to the Russian invasion. Saying the model new arms bundle, German Safety Minister Boris Pistorius talked about Berlin would help Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

After meeting Scholz and totally different senior officers on the chancellery, the two leaders are anticipated to fly to the western metropolis of Aachen for Zelenskyy to acquire the Worldwide Charlemagne Prize awarded to him and the parents of Ukraine.

Organizers say the award acknowledges that their resistance in opposition to Russia’s invasion is a safety “not merely of the sovereignty of their nation and the lifetime of its residents, however moreover of Europe and European values.”

Whereas German leaders have expressed sturdy backing for Ukraine, German voters are divided on whether or not or not the nation must current extra weapons, notably superior fighter jets of the kind Kyiv is asking its allies for.