German Foreign Minister arrives in Kyiv on seventh visit
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on 21 May on her seventh visit since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to n-tv, Baerbock arrived on the morning of 21 May on a visit that, as is usual for these matters, was not announced for security reasons.
A video of her arrival was posted on Twitter (X) by Spiegel journalist Christoph Schult.
Ankunft Außenministerin Baerbock in Kiew. Begrüßung durch Botschafter @MJaegerT Mehr auf @derspiegel pic.twitter.com/hPslpoI342
Advertisement:— Christoph Schult (@schultchristoph) May 21, 2024
Baerbock called for increased international support for Ukraine in the area of air defence.
"To protect Ukraine from Russia's many missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defence," she said at the start of her seventh solidarity visit to Ukraine since the start of full-scale Russian aggression in February 2022.
"We must now join forces to ensure that Ukraine can survive [...] and that Putin's troops do not soon find themselves at our own borders," Baerbock appealed to international partners.
She said the global air defence initiative, which Baerbock launched together with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, has raised almost €1 billion to provide additional support to Ukraine's air defence forces.
"We are working intensively to increase this amount even further. We are turning over every stone several times and have moved forward with an additional Patriot system," she added.
Several states expressed support for Germany's initiative to find air defence equipment for Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein format) on 20 May.
On 17 April, the German government launched an initiative to find additional air defence assets that could be sent to Ukraine. Berlin later reported that it was discussing financing the initiative with Denmark and the Netherlands.
In April, Belgium also announced a €200 million contribution to the German initiative, and in May, Canada pledged more than US$55 million.