EU enlargement is necessary due to Russia's war – German Foreign Minister in Kyiv

Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, stated Berlin’s readiness to support Ukraine on its way to the EU during her fourth visit to Kyiv since 24 February 2022.

Source: Press service of Germany’s Foreign Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "Under a hail of bombs, facing the Russian tanks, Ukraine confidently and decisively embarked on the path to the European Union. With enormous courage and decisiveness, Ukraine is also protecting the freedom of each and every one of us," Baerbock said.

Details: She added that Kyiv can rely on Berlin's support on this path since Germany is convinced that "EU enlargement is a necessary geopolitical consequence of Russia’s war".

As Baerbock stated, she will concentrate on measures facilitating and protecting power, water and heat supply for the population during her visit, especially next winter amid likely Russian attacks on the Ukrainian infrastructure.

Moreover, Germany and Ukraine want to cooperate more closely in the future in the transition to renewable energy sources, the gradual abandonment of coal, stable power grid operation and energy-efficient housing construction, as the German Foreign Ministry noted.

The expediency of the construction of a wind power plant in the Chernobyl exclusion zone is to be discussed on the sidelines of the visit.

"The territory that was affected by the nuclear disaster almost forty years ago may thus become the symbol of clean and eco-friendly energy with green power for Kyiv amid the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine," the statement reads.

The kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia and the fate of affected families will also be important issues on the agenda.  

Background: Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on 11 September in the morning with a visit that was kept secret for security reasons.

Baerbock became the first member of the German Cabinet of Ministers of Germany to visit the east of Ukraine after the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. Specifically, she visited the city of Kharkiv.

Before that, she was in Kyiv two times: in the middle of May of this year and in the middle of September of last year.

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