Germany’s Scholz pledges $680m in military aid on surprise Ukraine visit
Al Jazeera
German chancellor to hold talks with Zelenskyy before inauguration of Trump, who has pledged to end the war.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged additional military support worth $680m to Ukraine in an unannounced visit to Kyiv after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought security guarantees from NATO to defend itself amid steady Russian advances.
In a statement announcing his visit on Monday, Scholz said the military aid will be delivered this month, amid Ukraine’s renewed effort to defend its territory, about 20 percent of which has been occupied by Russia.
The visit, his second since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, comes amid uncertainty before President-elect Donald Trump takes the reins at the White House and as Russian forces make territorial gains.
“I travelled to Kyiv tonight: by train through a country that has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for over 1,000 days,” Scholz said in a post on X.
“I would like to make it clear here on the ground that Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe.
