The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon for a visit.

Merz had recently kept the exact time of his trip secret for security reasons.

On Monday, after the meeting of the leadership bodies of the CDU and CSU, he left for Poland, from where he took the train to the Ukrainian capital.

He arrived there on Tuesday with a few hours delay.

Due to numerous railway facilities destroyed by Russian missiles and regular air raid alarms, long delays are now the norm in Ukraine.

Alexander Haneke

Editor in Politics.

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Merz had already announced his visit at the weekend, but then left the exact time open after security concerns from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

The BKA had also objected that it could not set up a security concept for the visit in such a short time.

Merz, on the other hand, said he had not asked the BKA to accompany him.

In Kyiv, the CDU chairman visited the suburb of Irpin, where the Russian army had caused the heaviest destruction when it invaded.

There he was received by Mayor Oleksandr Markuschyn, who is also the commander of the local territorial defense forces, which played a key role in stopping the Russian advance in front of the Ukrainian capital.

In Irpin, Merz visited another almost completely destroyed district before returning to Kyiv.

A visit to Bucha, the neighboring town of Irpin, where hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian soldiers during the Russian occupation, had to be canceled at short notice due to time constraints.

In Kyiv, Merz wants to hold a series of political talks in the afternoon.

A reception with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is not on the agenda.

The CDU chairman went to Kyiv at the invitation of the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.

In Kyiv, Merz wants to get an impression of the destruction caused by the Russian invasion and the situation in the country.

In the first weeks of the war, Russia's army advanced to the outskirts of the capital, bombed numerous villages and residential areas and, according to current information, killed more than a thousand civilians.

Merz is then expected to hold talks in the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.

Merz came to Kyiv at the invitation of the Rada.

The CDU leader's trip provoked criticism in Berlin after Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was disinvited by the Ukrainian government in mid-March.

At the time, Steinmeier wanted to travel to Kyiv together with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland for a solidarity visit.

However, because of Steinmeier's previous Russia policy as Foreign Minister and Head of the Chancellery, the Ukrainian government had declared that a visit by the German Federal President was not desired.

For this reason, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has so far refrained from traveling to Ukraine.

On Monday evening, Scholz confirmed on ZDF that you “cannot do that” among democratic friends.

The fact that Steinmeier was uninvited stands in the way of a visit to Kyiv.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, said on Tuesday: "Playing an insulted liverwurst doesn't sound very statesmanlike." It's about "the most brutal war of annihilation since the Nazi attack on Ukraine, it's not a kindergarten".

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) plans to be the first member of the government to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion began this week.

In addition, left-wing politician Gregor Gysi wants to travel to Ukraine for almost a week.