Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba has asked his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, to speed up the delivery of tanks and artillery ammunition to Kiev.
"I will not hide that the main topic of our negotiations today is the increase and acceleration of arms deliveries to Ukraine," Kuleba said at a joint press conference, Ukrainian portal Unian reported.
"This autumn, we expect the first ultramodern German Iris air defense system. I also could not avoid mentioning the latest initiative: the so-called Leopard plan (...). I really emphasized the importance of supplying tanks of this type from Germany," the foreign minister has stated before adding that they see "no obstacles to this."
In addition, he has called for artillery systems. "This decision is not technically as difficult as supplying tanks. Ammunition can now significantly strengthen our offensive capabilities and this will help us liberate new territories and save people's lives," he has assured.
Thus, Baerbock assured that Berlin will support Ukraine as much as necessary. In this regard, the German minister confirmed that the Iris air defense systems will be delivered in the coming weeks.
PATH TO THE EU Kuleba expressed satisfaction that her German counterpart has shown her readiness to support Ukraine's candidacy to the European Union, with efforts to ensure that it fulfills the necessary conditions for assessing its membership and that it becomes effective.
"Today it was extremely important for me to hear from the German colleague that she supports Ukraine's rapid progress on its way to EU membership," she welcomed.
"In this regard, I accepted Annalena's proposal and we agreed to launch a project between the German and Ukrainian foreign ministries," she has assured. This project would consist in Berlin providing resources for strengthening Ukrainian institutions with regard to European integration, Ukrinform agency has reported.
Baerbock called on Russia to allow the IAEA mission to remain at the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant for as long as necessary and urged Russian forces to return control to Ukraine.
"We call on Moscow to allow the IAEA mission to remain at the plant for a long time and remove the weapons completely. Russia should leave the territory of the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant and return control of the nuclear plant to its only legal owner, Ukraine," he said, Ukrinform reported.
In Baerbock's words, the situation at the nuclear power plant is "the fault" of the Russian war, so Europe should not make any concessions.
The German foreign minister arrived in Kiev on Saturday, her second official visit since the outbreak of the war, which was triggered on February 24 on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Baerbock has stressed from Kiev that her presence in the country seeks to demonstrate that Berlin "will continue to be on the side of Ukraine as long as necessary with the delivery of weapons and with humanitarian and financial support", as reported by the German news agency DPA.
The politician has traveled to Kiev from Poland in a special train and together with a small delegation, since the airspace over Ukraine has been closed since the beginning of the hostilities.
The German minister made her first visit to Ukraine on May 10, the first trip by a high-ranking German government official since the beginning of the Russian military offensive. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kiev in mid-June with the Presidents of France and Romania, Emmanuel Macron and Klaus Iohannis, respectively, and the then Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi.