Zelenskiy telephones with German president after row over cancelled visit

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBERLIN Reuters – 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.p

pSources from the presidential office told Reuters that Zelenskiy invited Scholz and Steinmeier to visit Ukraine.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pZelenskiy and German President FrankWalter Steinmeier both described the talk as good, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported, citing a statement from Steinmeiers office.p

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

pKyivs refusal caused a scandal in Germany and prompted Scholz to say he would not visit the wartorn country before the German president had done so.p

p

pp Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Rachel More, editing by Kirsti Knollep

divdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivdivdiv