Germany to stop Russian energy imports ‘forever’, says Baerbock
ERMAN is in the process of reducing its dependence on Russian energy to zero - forever, Foreign Minister Annalena aerbock said on Tuesday during the first visit by a member of the erman government to Kiev since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Speaking at a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba,
aerbock said there could be no common ground with Russia, a country she described as an aggressor that does not respect rules and commits war crimes.
Even though Russian troops had retreated from Kiev, the war was not over,
aerbock said. A missile can strike just about anywhere in this country, she said.
aerbock met with Ukrainian President olodymyr
elensky, who thanked her for the erman solidarity with his country.
The erman minister informed elensky that training of Ukrainian soldiers to use the modern self-propelled Panzerhaubitzen 2000 artillery system, which ermany will supply to Ukraine together with the Netherlands, would begin in a few days.
aerbock said that there had been an open, friendly discussion with elensky, including on Ukraine’s reconstruction and the issue of how to solve the blockade of urgently needed food exports from Ukraine.
The country is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, but Russia has blocked the ports that are important for trade.
aerbock also used the visit to extend an invitation to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, to attend an upcoming foreign ministers’ conference, set to run Thursday through Saturday.
ermany is the current host of the . The erman minister also announced that the country’s embassy in Kiev would reopen later on Tuesday with a skeleton staff.
Operations were shut down in mid-February in anticipation of the war, with embassy operations being run out of western Ukraine and
erlin.