KYIV, Ukraine – Germany’s top diplomat arrived Monday in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on an unannounced visit, in what appears to be a show of support for Ukraine on the eve of a US presidential election that could bring major changes to Washington’s policy. Russia attacks all its neighbors.
Germany is Ukraine’s second largest arms producer after the US, and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock vowed that Berlin’s support would remain strong.
“Together with many partners around the world, Germany stands firmly on the side of Ukraine,” he said, German news agency dpa reported. “We will support the Ukrainian people as long as they need us to continue their peaceful path.”
The war is at a critical juncture in Ukraine, with the Russian military making creeping gains on the battlefield and another harsh winter looming after Russia struck Ukraine’s power grid.
With his troops under heavy pressure from Russia in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that the delivery of Western military aid, including weapons, had accelerated.
The difficult war in Ukraine requires a lot of ammunition, and Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western promises of support are taking too long to arrive.
Before the US election, Zelenskyy tried to lock Ukraine’s Western supporters into a long-term “victory plan”, including an official invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western ballistic missiles to strike Russia, but the response was disappointing to officials in Kyiv.
Russia is using its superior numbers to put pressure on the Ukrainian front. The commander-in-chief of Ukraine, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that his troops were fighting to contain “one of the most powerful (Russian) incidents” of the war.
Russia is now adding to its offensive push what Western intelligence sources say are up to 10,000 North Korean troops sent by Pyongyang under an agreement with Moscow.
That has deepened Zelenskyy’s frustration with Western aid. On Saturday, he urged allies to stop “watching” and take action before North Korean troops reach the battlefield.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv knows which North Korean military bases are being trained in Russia, but Ukraine cannot strike them without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia.
Baerbock arrived in Kyiv hours after debris from air defense drones fell in two districts of the city, starting small fires, officials said. No people or property were injured, according to the head of Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko.
A Russian bomb attack on Sunday night injured 15 people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast, regional police said.
Russia shot down about 80 Shahed warplanes over Ukrainian cities overnight, the Ukrainian military said.
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