Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is currently on an official visit to Ukraine. She is the first member of the Scholz government to set foot on Ukrainian soil since the beginning of the war. The politician’s first stop was the city of Bucha, which in March became the scene of war crimes committed by the Russian invaders. She lit a candle in the Orthodox Church and spoke to the mayor of the city. During the visit, Baerbock spoke of the wishes of the survivors of the massacre, whose wish was “to make it clear to the world what kind of crimes happened here. How great the pain is.” Nobody can take this pain away again. “But we can ensure justice.”
Baerbock, who was surrounded by half a dozen heavily armed security guards throughout her visit and wore a bulletproof vest, said in Bucha: “We owe it to these victims not only to commemorate them here, but to hold the perpetrators accountable and draw. That is what we will do as an international community. That is the promise that we can and must make here in Bucha”. She was also empathetic: “We could be these victims”.
President Zelenskyj also met the Foreign Minister. He received her in Kyiv. It was an “open, friendly conversation, together with the Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra”. Baerbock held out the prospect of EU membership for Ukraine – without naming a timetable. You shouldn’t be “buzzing about paragraphs” here. She also announced that she would reduce dependency on Russian energy “to zero. And forever.”
