Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may visit Germany in May for the first time since the Russian attack on Ukraine – to receive the Charlemagne Prize from the city of Aachen.

The organizers are preparing for Selenskyj to personally take part in the ceremony in the coronation hall of Aachen City Hall, even if this will only be decided at short notice depending on the situation in the war zone. The “Bild am Sonntag” reported at Easter that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to give the laudatory speech. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also been announced as a speaker.

Zelenskyi had not traveled abroad at all for the first ten months after the invasion. He then flew to Washington just before Christmas to meet US President Joe Biden. On the way back he stopped in Poland and met the head of state Andrzej Duda there. Visits to London, Paris, Brussels and finally Warsaw followed. The Ukrainian President was last in Germany in July 2021 to visit the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).

The Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen has been awarded since 1950 to personalities who have made a contribution to the unity of Europe. The Board of Directors had already decided in December that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people should be honored with the renowned prize this year.

Planning for multiple contingencies

Shortly before Easter, the city of Aachen announced that Zelenskyj’s participation was still “completely open”. But prepare for such a scenario. Personal participation depends “strongly on the then prevailing war situation and the corresponding security concepts”. If Selenskyj cannot attend in person, he should be connected via video. Planning is also underway for this variant.

The Chancellery would neither confirm nor deny the report that the Chancellor was present at the award ceremony at the weekend. “The Chancellor’s appointments are usually announced on the Friday of the previous week as part of the government press conference,” said a government spokeswoman. If Scholz travels to Aachen, it could be that he gets company from two neighboring countries. There is speculation that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki or President Andrzej Duda could arrive from Poland, as well as President Emmanuel Macron from France.

International guests are expected

In order to enable international guests to participate, the date for the award ceremony has already been postponed. It will not take place on Ascension Day (May 18) as usual, but four days earlier. This should prevent “an overlap with a relevant event on the following day”, the city of Aachen announced. What is meant is probably the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which begins on May 19 – the day after Ascension Day. In order to arrive on time, you have to depart from Europe the day before. Among others, von der Leyen, Scholz and Macron will take part in the summit.

The chancellor has met Selenskyj in person twice since the beginning of the war. In June he visited him in Kiev together with Macron, then Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. In February, Macron and Scholz then met the Ukrainian President together in Paris.