Volodymyr Zelenskyj arrived in Berlin late last night for a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
At lunchtime on Sunday, the president will probably go on to Aachen in western Germany.
Foreign reporter Jona Källgren, reporting from Berlin, answers four questions about the visit.
It took a while for Zelensky to get to Berlin?
It was hardly a surprise that Zelenskyjs first international trip after the large-scale Russian invasion was to Washington DC Maybe not that the second trip was to London, Paris and Brussels. But since then he has also visited Warsaw, Helsinki and The Hague – but only flew over Berlin. Zelenskyj was for a long time strongly critical of Germany, above all regarding the import of Russian natural gas but also that it was too slow for Germany to supply Ukraine with weapons. The visit can now be seen as a certificate that Germany, in Zelenskyjs eyes, has done enough to be seen as a full-fledged ally and worth a visit.
What has Germany done for Ukraine?
Germany is now the country within the EU that supplies Ukraine with the most weapons and ammunition, much more than, for example, France does. The last taboo was broken in January when Germany finally approved the export of German-made Leopard II tanks to Ukraine, sending 18 of its own most modern tanks. Under Scholz, the country has also completely stopped importing Russian gas and has been a driving force to introduce sanctions against Russia.
Germany is like an oil tanker, it takes a while to turn around but then it can move steadily forward, and you can see that now when it comes to support for Ukraine.
And even before the visit, Zelenskyy got something to take with him?
Yes. Yesterday, Germany began preparing a huge military support package for Ukraine worth 2.7 billion euros, or around 31 billion kroner. According to German media, it will contain older Leopard I tanks, Marder type combat vehicles, anti-aircraft systems, artillery systems and drones. This will not arrive in Ukraine tomorrow, but can probably rather be seen as a “replenishment” for this fall, after what is expected to be a huge, and costly, Ukrainian counter-offensive this summer.
Is there support for Ukraine among the German population?
According to the latest opinion poll from the state TV channel ZDF, a majority of Germans support the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. That support has actually increased in recent months. Then of course there are some variations: support is lower in the former East Germany and very low among people who vote for the right-wing nationalist party AfD.