The Federal President's trip to Poland ended with a bang: Steinmeier had to report in Warsaw that he was not wanted as a visitor in Kyiv.

What should have been a "strong sign of common European solidarity with Ukraine" became a shrill signal of discord and disappointment.

It doesn't come out of nowhere.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin has long since abandoned all diplomatic forms in an attempt to persuade Germany to give his country even more support in the fight against the Russians.

President Selenskyj has repeatedly called for more weapons for his army and more pressure on Putin.

Berlin had been hesitant in both areas, before the war and even after it began.

Kyiv is now making Steinmeier pay for this.

From the Ukrainian point of view, it does not affect innocent people.

Steinmeier, while admitting misjudgments about Putin, has not forgotten his pro-Russian past.

Nord Stream 2 remains a monument of error

The unloading also shows the extent of Berlin's loss of reputation in Eastern Europe.

In its Russia policy, Germany listened too little to its allies and paid too little attention to their interests.

Nord Stream 2, the billion-dollar ruin on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, will remain a monument to the errors of the Schröder and Merkel governments until it collapses.

And Steinmeier will probably never shake off his reputation in the East for (having) understood Russia.

Declaring him an unwanted guest wasn't a wise decision, though.

That doesn't make a visit to Kyiv by Scholz any more likely.

From this affront, Putin will draw hope that the first cracks will form in his opponents' camp.

With all sympathy for the desperate situation of the Ukrainians, anyone who has an enemy like Putin should not willingly put a strain on their relationships with their friends, especially their relationship with their biggest financier.