Salts in Zelensky: Russia cannot dictate peace in Ukraine

Germany’s undivided support to Ukraine for as long as it takes, Chancellor Olaf expressed during his visit to Kiev, where he had talks with the Ukrainian president. Solz said Germany would hand over additional air defense systems to Ukraine next year and stressed to Volontimir Zelenski that his trip to Kiev proves his country’s undivided support. “I make this very clear to Putin here in Kiev today. We have endurance and we will stand alongside Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he said during the joint press conference with the Ukrainian president. Solz added that he told Russian leader Vladimir Putin that he must withdraw his troops from Ukraine. He also assured the Ukrainian president that Russia would not impose its conditions on Ukraine in the event of peace negotiations between the two countries. “Nothing concerning Ukraine will be decided without Ukraine,” said the German chancellor. “Russia cannot dictate peace in Ukraine”, he assured him, saying he wants to “search ways that can lead to a just and lasting peace for Ukraine”. To achieve this, Kiev must be “in a position of power” on the ground, he said, recalling the 28 billion euros Berlin has spent since the start of the conflict over Kiev’s military support. This amount makes Germany the second largest supplier of military aid to Kiev, after the United States. Olaf Salts also promised his support in Kiev against Russian blows against his energy infrastructure. “Russia continues to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a targeted and ruthless manner. Putin wants people to freeze,” Salts said. But “we will not allow his cynical calculation to succeed,” he added. On his part Ukrainian President Volontimir Zelenski said Ukraine needs more air defense systems to protect its important facilities from Russian missile attacks. “We are examining how to protect two dozen special facilities, there are simply not enough (air defense systems) due to such dense missile attacks,” Zelesnky said during the press conference with German chancellor Olaf Salts in Kiev. The German chancellor avoided questions about Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO alliance and reiterated his refusal to supply Kiev with long-range Taurus cruise missiles. Olaf Solz responded by advocacy to a question about Ukraine’s possibility of rapid admission to NATO. The North Atlantic Alliance has already taken decisions on this issue, Solz said, at the joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volontimir Zelenski. The path of Ukraine’s NATO accession has been described at the organisation’s summits in Vilnius and Washington and therefore there is no need for new decisions, he said. Meanwhile, the 2023 and 2024 summits in Vilnius and Washington only confirmed that Ukraine should eventually become a NATO member, without specifying a specific date of accession. The Solts visit to Kiev takes place just over two weeks after a telephone conversation between the chancellor and the Russian president—their first since December 2022—which had been criticized by the Ukrainian president.