Zelenskiy telephones with German president after row over cancelled visit

BERLIN – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke on the phone with the German president on Thursday, the presidential office in Berlin said, one day after Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Kyiv to mend a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

Sources from the presidential office told Reuters that Zelenskiy invited Scholz and Steinmeier to visit Ukraine.

Zelenskiy and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier both described the talk as good, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported, citing a statement from Steinmeier’s office.

The German head of state had planned to visit the Ukrainian capital in mid-April but Kyiv refused to welcome him, amid disquiet over his past support of rapprochement with Russia.

Kyiv’s refusal caused a scandal in Germany and prompted Scholz to say he would not visit the war-torn country before the German president had done so.