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Ukraine on Wednesday urged Germany to send its Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv with a promise of more arms deliveries after it snubbed a symbolic visit by the figurehead German president.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has a mainly ceremonial role but has come under fire for his Russia-friendly stance when he was a government minister, said a proposed trip to Kyiv with other heads of state had been rejected by Ukraine.
An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine did not mean to offend Mr Steinmeier but wanted Germany to send someone who could offer concrete help rather than merely warm words.
"Our president expects the chancellor so that he can take direct practical decisions, including weapons deliveries," the adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, told ZDF television in Germany.
He compared the "terrible images" of the war to the destruction of Berlin at the end of the Second World War in 1945 and said the Russian army's behaviour in Ukraine "isn't any different".
Pressure has been mounting on Mr Scholz to visit Kyiv after several European heads of government including the UK's Boris Johnson made the trip to see Mr Zelenskyy in person.
The opposition Christian Democrats have urged Mr Scholz to "get an idea of the situation on the ground".
But the chancellor did not announce any plans to visit Kyiv when asked by RBB radio on Wednesday, instead saying he was speaking regularly to Mr Zelenskyy by phone.
"Hardly any head of state or government has such close contact with me," said Mr Scholz, who defended the volume of Germany's weapons exports and said it was irritating that the president's offer of a visit had been turned down.
It comes amid wider criticism of Germany over its weapons deliveries and resistance to an embargo on Russian fossil fuels after years of conciliatory policies towards the Kremlin, notably fronted by Mr Steinmeier.
Mr Steinmeier, who has admitted that his overtures to Russia were a failure, said he had hoped to visit Ukraine with the presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"I was ready for it, but apparently, and I have to accept this, it wasn't wanted in Kyiv," he said while on a visit to Poland.
The Polish and Baltic heads of state went to Ukraine without Mr Steinmeier on Wednesday, visiting the town of Borodyanka near Kyiv which Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said was "permeated with pain and suffering".
"It is hard to believe that such war atrocities could be perpetrated in 21st century Europe, but that is the reality. This is a war we must win," Mr Nauseda said.
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A boy rides a bicycle past a house that was damaged by shelling in Andriivka village, not far from Kyiv. EPA -
A destroyed residential building in Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine. Reuters -
Firefighters at work on the outskirts of Kharkiv, north-east Ukraine. EPA -
A torn Ukrainian flag in front of a ruined Mariupol apartment building. Reuters -
Residents who cleared debris after Russian shelling eat lunch outside a damaged building in Makariv, near Kyiv. EPA -
Children play with a therapeutic dog at a shelter organised by volunteers in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. Reuters -
A girl stands by the door of a bunker in Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city of Mariupol. AFP -
A firefighter at work following a missile attack near Kharkiv International Airport. Reuters -
A Ukrainian fighter walks in front of a destroyed house in Bohdanivka village, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Two women hug outside a heavily damaged apartment block following an artillery attack in Kharkiv. Reuters -
Ukrainian soldiers guard the village of Barvinkove, as Russia's invasion on Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Leonid Serdiuchenko, a Ukrainian commander, stands next to destroyed vehicles outside Barvinkove. Reuters -
A woman carries the portrait of Dmytro Stefienko, 32, a civilian killed during the war, during his funeral in Bucha, Ukraine. AP -
A Russian soldier collects weapons from inside the Mariupol drama theatre in Ukraine. AFP -
Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Andriy Matviychuk, 37, who served as a territorial defence soldier, who was captured and killed by the Russian army in Bucha, Ukraine. AP -
Anatoliy Morykin, 45, left, mourns the death of his mother, Valentyna Morykina, 82, who died in a retirement home in Bucha during the Russian invasion. AP -
Nadiya, 65, shows a hole in a wall of a building after shelling in Zalissya, Ukraine. EPA -
A booby trap found by locals near their home in Zalissya. EPA -
Debris of a school bus near a damaged school that was a base for Russian troops in Bohdanivka, Ukraine. EPA -
A man examines the debris of a destroyed Russian tank in Bohdanivka. EPA -
President Joe Biden speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport, en route to Washington. AP -
Valentina Saroyan sits in the basement of a school in Yahidne, near Chernihiv, Ukraine. AP -
Vasyl Cherepenko stands next to a mass grave at a cemetery in Yahidne, near Dnipro, Ukraine. AP -
Oksana, second from left, and Yevhen, right, talk with police officers next to their apartment building damaged by shelling in Irpin, Ukraine. AP -
Women bid farewell to relatives as they leave the Slovyansk central station in the Donbas region. AFP -
The partially destroyed Mariupol drama theatre in Ukraine, hit on March 16 by an air strike. AFP -
A man embraces his wife as she prepares to board a train at Slovyansk central station in the Donbas region. AFP -
A woman walks through a damaged apartment building after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A missile pierces the road in front of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. Reuters -
A boy walks by unexploded Russian shells in the village of Andriyivka close to Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian tanks move down a street in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A man walks past a storage place for burned armed vehicles and cars, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Local residents stand on top of a Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian families, who have fled Kherson amid the Russian invasion, watch a dolphin show at a hotel in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
Residents stand outside their apartments as shops burn after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Irina Szymanska holds her baby in a temporary shelter at the central train station for displaced people heading to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A man walks in his yard, damaged by shelling, in the village of Andriivka, Ukraine. EPA -
Sixty-two-year-old Luba hugs a Ukrainian servicewoman in Andriivka. EPA -
A woman washes clothes in the yard of a ruined house in Andriivka. EPA -
Russian soldiers patrol a street in Volnovakha, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. The picture was taken during a trip organised by the Russian military. AFP -
Russian mine clearers search for explosive objects in a building the Russian authorities say was damaged by Ukrainian shelling. AFP -
A woman reads a book as residents find shelter from shelling in a metro station in Kharkiv. Reuters -
Firefighters try to contain a fire at a plant in Kharkiv following Russian shelling. Reuters -
Farm owner Zlobina Lubov tends to her animals in the village of Malaya Rohan, Ukraine. Reuters -
A bathtub is seen inside a building that was heavily damaged by shelling in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A man looks out of his window, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Borodianka. Reuters -
Soldiers 'came to my house and said go to the basement' Zinaida Makishaiva, 82, said, before they started to shoot around her. 'God saved my life,' she said. Reuters -
A mother waits for police officers to exhume the body of her son from a well at a fuel station in Buzova, Kyiv region. According to the head of the village, he was killed by Russian soldiers. Reuters
Mr Scholz, in office since December, has also come under fire for so far refusing to send heavy weapons to Ukraine, despite announcing an overhaul of Germany's defence policy after Russia's invasion.
Germany had been reluctant for historical reasons to send weapons to Ukraine, but it has now sent anti-tank weapons, missile launchers and surface-to-air missiles.
Critics want Mr Scholz to go further. Even his Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, has called for more urgent weapons deliveries.
"Anything that can help the Ukrainian army now must be sent quickly," Mr Habeck told German broadcasters.
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said "it would be important" for Mr Scholz to visit Kyiv and make the decision to send heavy weapons.
Germany has almost exhausted its ability to supply Ukraine with weapons from its army reserves, but it is working on direct deliveries from the arms industry, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said at the weekend.
Ukraine has received offers of tanks from Rheinmetall and other companies, including the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann arms group, reports say.
But some of the tanks could take many months to refurbish, while critics have also said Ukrainian soldiers would have to be trained to use them.
