Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address the Bundestag in a video call for the first time on Thursday morning before the German parliament opens.
The virtual address follows a series of direct appeals Zelenskyy had been making to leaders to drum up support after Russia invaded the country.
After speaking to the Canadian parliament earlier this week, the Ukrainian president addressed the United States Congress and called for tougher economic sanctions on the Kremlin and enablers of the invasion.
He reasoned that “Peace is more important than income.”
On Wednesday, day 21 of the war, the council for the besieged city of Mariupol claimed Russia had destroyed the Drama Theatre, which Russia denied.
Germany’s stance on Ukraine
In response to Russia’s invasion on February 24, the German government had approved supplying weapons to Ukraine. It had so far sent 1,000 anti-tank weapons, 500 surface-to-air missiles and reportedly 2,700 Soviet-era missiles to the eastern European country.
This weekGermany also announced it will buy F-35 stealth fighter jets from the US, considered the world’s most modern combat aircraft. This comes after Scholz unveiled plans to up its defense budget by €100 billion last month.
The country’s actions marks a major shift from its long-standing defense policy of not sending or selling weapons to war zones.
But Germany maintained it opposes NATO getting involved in the Ukraine war, stressing that de-escalation is vital.
Earlier this month, Poland had offered to send its 28 MiG fighter jets to Ukraine using the US Air Base in Ramstein, Germany on the condition NATO would back the move. But both Germany and the US refused to support the proposal.
Olaf Scholz said at the time: “We want to de-escalate the conflict, we want to see an end to this conflict.”
fh/kb (dpa, AFP,epd)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-president-zelenskyy-to-address-german-parliament/a-61156127?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf