German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday he was ready to travel to Kyiv with colleagues from Poland and the Baltic states, but was told his presence in Ukraine would be undesirable.

The plan, Steinmeier said during a trip to Warsaw, was to “undertake a trip to Kyiv to send a strong signal of common European solidarity with Ukraine".

"I was ready to do this, but apparently - and I have to take note of this - this was not wanted in Kyiv."

The German newspaper Bild cited Ukrainian sources as saying that Steinmeier was refused admission to Kyiv "due to close ties with Russia in recent years".

According to Bild, the office of the German president has received a clear signal from Kyiv that he is not yet welcome there, but a future meeting may still take place.

Last week Steinmeier conceded it had been a "mistake" to stick for long with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. Berlin scrapped the project just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

BBC