Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Berlin to meet with Scholz

BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Kyiv’s presidency said Friday, the final leg of his whirlwind tour of European leaders.
The plane carrying Zelensky has landed, the Ukrainian presidency told AFP.
The Ukrainian leader has been seeking fresh military and financial aid from his European allies as Kyiv faces a tough winter.
He is set to renew his push for Germany, the biggest military aid supplier after the United States, to deliver more weapons including long-range missiles.
However, Scholz has rejected sending the German long-range Taurus missile system, fearing an escalation of NATO’s tense standoff with nuclear-armed Russia.
Zelensky has been on a two-day tour of London, Paris, Rome and now Berlin, amid fears of dwindling Western support if Donald Trump is elected US president next month.
A scheduled Ukraine defense meeting Saturday at the Ramstein US air base in western Germany was postponed after US President Joe Biden called off a state visit to Germany because of Hurricane Milton.
Russian forces have made advances across the eastern frontline and targeted the war-battered country’s power grid as Ukraine faces its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion started in February 2022.
Russia said Friday its forces had captured the frontline villages of Zhelanne Druge and Ostrivske, the latest in a string of territorial gains for Moscow.
Zelensky has pushed for clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including British Storm Shadow missiles, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
Washington and London have stalled on giving approval over fears it could draw NATO allies into direct conflict with Russia.
In Germany, Scholz’s refusal to deliver Taurus missiles is controversial, even within his own three-party coalition with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
“We must supply Ukraine with significantly more air defense, ammunition and long-range weapons,” said the Greens’ European MP Anton Hofreiter.
“Restrictions on the range of weapons supplied do not contribute to de-escalation but rather enable further Russian attacks.”
The FDP’s defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann told the same newspaper: “I very much hope that Zelensky will make it clear to the Chancellor once again that if Ukraine loses this war, this will not be the last war in Europe.”