Ukraine: German chancellor to address nation in TV broadcast

According to German press reports, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will address the nation again in a televised speech on Sunday (8 May).

He’s expected to talk about the war in Ukraine and the end of the Second World War. On 8 May 1945, 77 years ago, Germany was liberated from the Nazi regime by Allied troops. The speech is to be recorded on Sunday afternoon and broadcast by ARD at 8.20 pm.

It would be the second time that Scholz, whose Ukraine policy had recently been sharply criticised, would address the population. He delivered a short speech on 24 February, the day Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is the greatest catastrophe of our time,” Scholz said in a recent speech. “The world after this war of aggression and destruction will no longer be the same as before. It already is not.”

The chancellor has however been criticised for his refusal to visit Kyiv as well as his hesitancy over providing heavy weapons to help Ukraine in its war against the Russian invaders. Scholz has so far refused to visit like the Ukrainian capital like some other European leaders due to the decision of the Ukrainian government to disinvite German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier three weeks ago.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Chancellor Scholz and Steinmeier to visit, the German president’s office said on Thursday.

The German government has been pursuing a careful policy of, on the one hand, supporting Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian invaders and, on the other, avoiding an escalation of the war. Scholz has openly spoken about the need to avoid a situation that the war could escalate to a 3rd World War.

Austin Ohaegbu

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