Zelenskyy meets with German economy minister amid unannounced Kyiv visit

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Thursday with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who arrived earlier in the day in Ukraine's capital Kyiv in a surprise visit.

“I am grateful to Germany and the entire German society for their extremely tangible support of Ukraine throughout the full-scale war at a time of all these challenges,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.

Noting that he and Habeck spoke about the growing intensity of Russian missile attacks against Ukraine, Zelenskyy said it is important to continue to strengthen his country’s air defense with modern Western systems.

He said that Germany's decision to support Ukraine with the transfer of an additional Patriot missile defense system is “difficult to overestimate.”

Earlier in the day, Habeck also held a meeting with other Ukrainian officials, including his counterpart Yulia Svyrydenko, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin.

“I want to thank Germany, which for two years has been actively supporting our army with military aid, providing assistance to our refugees, and supporting our economy,” Svyrydenko was quoted in a statement by the Ukrainian Economy Ministry as saying.

Indicating that Kyiv has received €32.2 billion ($34.2 billion) from Germany since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Svyrydenko expressed her country’s appreciation for Berlin’s allocation of €7.1 billion to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for this year from the German federal budget.

“We have identified the most promising sectors for investment that German companies may be interested in. These are energy, transport and logistics, the agro-processing complex, the production of critical materials and green steel,” she added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on X last Saturday that his country will send Ukraine another Patriot missile defense system and ammunition.