Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Monday morning for a visit that had not been announced for security reasons. It is their fourth trip to the country since Russia invaded its neighbor again 565 days ago. “Every day new horror, every day new suffering and death. This is the relentless reality of the people in Ukraine day after day,” said Baerbock upon her arrival.
She had last been here in January, visiting Kharkiv, the big city in the east, within range of Russian missiles, just a few kilometers from the border. The message that should be sent from the visit to Kiev is that Germany will reliably stand by Ukraine’s side in the long term and will support the country politically, economically and also militarily.
Ukraine can rely on the fact that “we see the expansion of the EU as a necessary geopolitical consequence of Russia’s war,” said Baerbock. That is why the federal government will “decisively help” Kiev on its way to the European Union. Ukraine has candidate status and now it is time to prepare the decision to start EU accession talks. The heads of state and government could discuss this at the European Council in December. Baerbock has also announced that he will be hosting a conference in Berlin to discuss the necessary changes in the EU so that it is able to accept Ukraine and also the Republic of Moldova and the Western Balkan states.
The fight against corruption is central to EU accession
Baerbock praised the efforts of President Volodimir Zelensky’s government to reform the judiciary and media legislation. “The balance sheet is already impressive.” However, there is still a way to go in implementing the anti-oligarch law and the fight against corruption. Zelenskiy recently replaced Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov with Rustem Umjerov, previously head of Ukraine’s privatization fund. Although Reznikov was not personally accused of any wrongdoing, there had been repeated corruption scandals in his area of responsibility.
With her warning, Baerbock reminds us that a whole series of conditions must be met for accession to the EU – and Ukraine cannot expect any discounts, but must implement the necessary reforms. Zelenskiy has announced that he wants to punish wartime corruption like treason. Both in Ukraine and among its western partners, however, there are concerns that the president wants to transfer important cases to his subordinate secret service, the SBU, and that this will result in a lack of transparency and weaken the authorities responsible for fighting corruption.
While the prospect of Ukraine joining the EU is of enormous political importance, in the short term it has to prepare for another winter of war – and, like last year, massive and targeted attacks by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops on its civilian infrastructure especially the electricity, water and heat supply. Baerbock announced that they wanted to link the energy network with Ukraine even more closely. She accused Putin of “terrible terror” against the civilian population. Putin wants to break, discourage and wear people down. In recent days, Russian troops have fired a large number of drones and missiles at Kiev and a number of other cities.
Requests for cruise missiles remain unfulfilled
In the past few days, Ukraine has reported progress and minor gains in territory both in the east and in the summer offensive in the south, which aims to disrupt Russian supply lines across the Crimean peninsula. According to General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, the Ukrainian army only has between 30 and 45 days before bad weather could make combat operations and gaining terrain more difficult. But it is still too early to say whether the offensive has failed.
Zelensky said this Economist, he was preparing for a long war. However, he indicates that he has doubts among some of Ukraine’s Western partners as to whether they want to support the country militarily in the long term or whether they want to pressure him into negotiations with Russia. It was a “bad time for diplomacy,” Zelenskiy continued.
In other statements, he reiterated that he agreed with US President Joe Biden on the delivery of ATACMS-Short-range missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. Baerbock was not expected to make a commitment to deliver Taurus-Cruise missiles from the Bundeswehr’s stocks are brought to Kiev. Ukraine has requested these weapons, which range up to 500 kilometers. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not yet complied with this and is considering limiting the range.
Abducted children should be employed by the UN
Baerbock also wanted to talk to Ukrainian officials about the abduction of thousands of children by the Russian occupiers. The children would be deported to Russian re-education camps or given up for adoption in Russia. “The reports of extreme brainwashing by Russian authorities to destroy any bridges between children and their families and homeland break my heart,” she said. Germany supports the Ukrainian authorities and organizations that are working to bring the abducted children back home.
These crimes must be dealt with, demanded Baerbock. The indictment before the International Criminal Court is an important contribution to this. The abductions will also be discussed at the UN General Assembly in New York, which begins in a week. A delegation of African heads of state and government who recently visited Ukraine and Russia also demanded that Putin return the children. Western diplomats therefore hope to be able to put greater pressure on the Kremlin on this issue.