The Federal President's trip to Warsaw had been planned for a long time, an inaugural visit to his Polish colleague Andrzej Duda for his second term in office.

The short visit to Kyiv that followed, together with four other European presidents, should have been a gesture of solidarity.

That's why Frank-Walter Steinmeier immediately agreed when Duda suggested that the German head of state could get on the train to Kyiv after his visit to Warsaw alongside him, the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian presidents.

Before that, they wanted to meet at the Polish-Ukrainian border station.

Peter Carstens

Political correspondent in Berlin

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The undertaking seemed quite delicate: five presidents on a secret train across Ukraine on their way to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Steinmeier hadn't been on top for a while, Corona.

Nonetheless, he accepted without hesitation.

It was intended, he later said, to be "a strong sign of European solidarity with Ukraine".

Of course, the former head of the SPD chancellery and foreign minister also knew about the anger towards him, the Ukrainian ambassador Andrei Melnyk announced his personal contempt loud enough.

Even before leaving for Poland, Steinmeier himself had made an initial attempt to explain the failed policy on Russia in recent years, to admit mistakes that he had made "like others."

From Ukraine's point of view, serious, unforgivable mistakes.

Melnyk called Steinmeier's statements “empty clichés”.

excitement into the night

It was learned that before leaving, Steinmeier had tried several times to call his colleague Zelenskyj, also to talk about the past.

It is said that despite repeated attempts by the German side, it did not come about.

The last time you tried it was on Monday evening.

The night before the small German delegation left for Warsaw on Tuesday, news came from Warsaw that Steinmeier's visit to Kyiv was not wanted.

However, this was not initially communicated to the German Presidential Office, but to the Presidential Chancellery of the Polish President.

From there the trip had been organized, which included a formal letter of announcement.

It was answered from Kyiv with a promise, but one may come without the German.

The excitement and considerations that followed dragged on into the night. Duda probably announced that he wanted to speak to Selenskyj again himself.

Steinmeier was taken aback

With this state of affairs, Federal President Steinmeier, his wife Elke Büdenbender and a small delegation from the Office of the Federal President left Berlin by plane on Tuesday morning.

In Warsaw, the presidential couple first met the Polish presidential couple in the Dudas residence just outside the city, after which the two heads of state had a one-on-one meeting.

It took longer than planned, more than an hour, after which there was a delegation dinner.

The planned trip was not publicly known until then, and neither was the cancellation of Steinmeier's visit.

But the Ukrainian side apparently wanted to send a loud signal, not a silent diplomatic stop sign.

Around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a report from the “Bild” newspaper burst into the presidential meeting, which made the cancellation public, citing Ukrainian sources.

The Federal President is “currently not welcome in Kyiv.

We'll see if that changes again," a diplomat was quoted as saying.

At almost the same time, an informal rejection letter, which the FAZ has seen, arrived at the German embassy in Kyiv.

Ambassador Anka Feldhusen was informed that Kyiv considered it "more substantial and acceptable" for a "German visit" to take place independently.

One hopes, according to the author, that the "Polish friends" would have informed the German side about the "final arrangements".

The primary reason given is that they do not want to “overstrain their own security and protection capacities”.

The name or function of the Federal President are not even mentioned in the short letter, “a German visit” means that of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who Melnyk is practically summoning to Kyiv these days.

Steinmeier was shocked by the news.

A silent refusal would be one thing, this is a public affront.

According to participants in the meetings, the Polish side was "dismayed" and immediately criticized the Ukrainian approach, saying that it only helped Putin.

Shortly thereafter, Steinmeier made a statement to the journalists: He would have liked to go to Kyiv, he said, and: "I was ready to do so, but apparently, and I have to admit, that was not wanted in Kyiv."

Then the four presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania actually arrived in Kyiv.

They were greeted warmly there, and in front of the camera, Selenskyj gathered his guests to shake hands – like with the musketeers: one for all, all for one.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said they wanted "to be with those who really support us, among real friends.

I don't think you have that many real friends.

We are satisfied with this number of friends.” In any case, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German head of state, is not one of them.