Friedrich Merz at the party convention of the Christian Democratic Union in Hamburg, Germany. File photoMOSCOW, April 30The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz will visit Kyiv on Monday, May 2, the German tabloid Bild reported on Saturday, citing its own sources. «According to Bild, CDU leader Friedrich Merz <…> on Monday will go to Kyiv,» the publication says. According to the newspaper, in this way the leader of the German opposition will become one of the first German politicians to visit Ukraine. In mid-April, politicians such as the chairman of the Bundestag committee on EU affairs, Anton Hofreiter, and the chairman of the committee on foreign policy, Michael Roth, have already visited the country, the publication reminded. not yet. The Bundestag on Thursday adopted a statement calling on the government to provide comprehensive support to Ukraine, including the supply of heavy weapons. The statement was prepared by the ruling parties and received the support of the opposition — out of 693 voting resolutions, 586 deputies supported. The resolution was adopted after several weeks of debate in Germany over arms supplies to Ukraine, with some politicians from the ruling coalition criticizing the government for, in their opinion, a lack of decisiveness in arms supplies. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
