Olaf Scholz traveled to London last Friday for an inaugural visit to his British colleague Boris Johnson.

In the joint press conference after their meeting, both were asked whether they had any travel plans to Kyiv.

Both dodged the question.

Johnson did respond just 24 hours later - he went to Ukraine to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took the opportunity to commend the heroism and bravery of the Ukrainian army and announced the delivery of 120 armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles and anti-tank weapons.

Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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In doing so, Johnson set the example of a solidarity package that the Ukrainian leadership would like: a visit, talks and handshakes in the Kiev presidential residence, but in addition to the beautiful photos that the guest takes home with him, he also brings tangible military equipment, which Ukraine uses in its defensive struggle.

The German Chancellor would have been reluctant to fulfill this combination even before the Steinmeier scandal on Tuesday.

Now his visit to Kyiv is even more distant.

Until the diplomatic damage caused by the fact that the Federal President was uninvited - from a tour group that would have included the heads of state of Poland and the Baltic States - is repaired, a trip by Scholz is out of the question.

A visit together with Macron?

In addition, Scholz will hardly want to appear in Ukraine in an explicit donor mood for several reasons.

Firstly, this presumably includes the conviction of the Social Democrat Scholz that a military fundraiser similar to the one Johnson was just demonstrating would evoke little goodwill in his own party.

Secondly, Scholz prefers to act in sync with other EU countries, especially France.

For example, a joint visit with French President Emmanuel Macron could be considered, but he is currently in the middle of the decisive phase of his own re-election campaign.

Thirdly, Scholz would not make as easy progress as his British colleague on a military support trip to Kyiv.

Ukraine's military supply requirements are obvious - they are primarily aimed at the German Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which are currently being gradually phased out in the German army and replaced by the new Puma type, but which are still very popular with the armies of other countries .

Years ago, the German government handed over several dozen Marder tanks to Jordan, which at the time wanted to arm itself against both IS terror and the war in Syria.

The delivery of tanks - and not just armored vehicles - is the most sensitive request for support that Germany and all other NATO countries are currently facing.

On the one hand, this is linked to the concern that the use of heavy western military equipment against the Russian army could result in the NATO states being assigned combatant status by the Russian side.

On the other hand, the question would have to be answered as to where and by whom the training and instruction of the Ukrainian soldiers should be carried out.

The Chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), therefore proposed on Wednesday that Eastern European NATO countries could now hand over their old tanks and armored vehicles from the Warsaw Pact era to Ukraine and in return products from the Western NATO countries accept as a replacement.

Strack-Zimmermann visited Lemberg, in western Ukraine, with the committee chairmen for foreign affairs and for Europe, Michael Roth (SPD) and Anton Hofreiter (Greens).

To legitimize their visit, it was enough to side with the Ukrainian leadership's requests for heavy weapons.

Before Scholz can travel to Ukraine, he must be able to comply with these requests.