Germany–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany originally were established in 1918 as between

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

and

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, but were discontinued soon thereafter due to occupation of Ukraine by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. Current relations were resumed in 1989 at a consulate level, and in 1992 as full-scale diplomatic mission. Germany supports Ukraine's

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

membership.

History

Petro Poroshenko with Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Ukraine - 2018

After 1918

* 1918 - In the aftermath of the

Brest-Litovsk Treaty The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

, German troops provided military assistance to Ukraine against the

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

; German military administration was instrumental in

Pavlo Skoropadskyi Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army ...

coup against the

(April 1918) and the establishment of the short-lived

Ukrainian State The Ukrainian State ( uk, Українська Держава, translit=Ukrainska Derzhava), sometimes also called the Second Hetmanate ( uk, Другий Гетьманат, translit=Druhyi Hetmanat, link=no), was an anti-Bolshevik government ...

; the first German Ambassador to Ukraine was

Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein Philipp Alfons Freiherr Mumm von Schwarzenstein (19 March 1859 – 10 July 1924) (also known as Alfons von Mumm) was a diplomat of the German Empire. He succeeded the murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler as ambassador in Beijing in 1900. Mumm studi ...

; the first Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany was Oleksandr Sevriuk (as

Chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

) who was replaced with

Teodor Shteingel Baron Fyodor "Teodor" Rudolphovich Shteingel (russian: Фёдор Рудольфович Штейнгель, german: Theodor von Steinheil, 9 December 1870, Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a= ...

. * 1941-1944 - German troops (with the help of Italians, Romanians, and Hungarians) occupy most of

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

(including Soviet-occupied southeastern Poland) and portioning between

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

and

Reichskommissariat Ukraine During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Min ...

;

OUN Oun or OUN may refer to People * Ahmed Oun (born '1946), Libyan major general * Ek Yi Oun (1910–2013), Cambodian politician * Kham-Oun I (1885–1915), Lao queen consort * Õun, an Estonian surname; notable people with this surname * Oun Kham (18 ...

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

alternates between fighting the Germans and accepting their help against the Soviets.

Post 1945

* 1944-1950s - surviving OUN leaders find refuge in the US occupation zone of Germany, which becomes home to many Ukrainian

displaced persons Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

* 1953 -

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(then called "Radio Liberation") starts its operations in Munich, broadcasting to Ukraine in Ukrainian * 1959 -

Stepan Bandera Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( uk, Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра, Stepán Andríyovych Bandéra, ; pl, Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical, terr ...

killed in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

by a Soviet agent

After 1989 and democratic diplomatic achievents

* 1991 - Germany opposes Ukrainian independence and the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, according to archived German Foreign Ministry files released in 2022. * 1991 November - Facing the imminent dissolution of the Soviet Union, German Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

offers Russia to "exert influence on the Ukrainian leadership" for it to join a proposed confederation with Russia. * 1991 December - Germany changes its stance only when Ukrainian independence became inevitable after the 1991 independence referendum, and recognizes Ukraine. * 2011 - the

Nord Stream 1 Nord Stream (German-English mixed expression; german: Nord and en, Stream, literally 'North Stream'; russian: Северный поток, ''Severny potok'') is a pair of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea ...

makes Ukraine economically vulnerable

During Russian-Ukrainian wars

* 2014 - Germany belongs to the

Normandy format The Normandy Format (french: Format Normandie), also known as the Normandy contact group, is a grouping of states who met in an effort to resolve the War in Donbas and the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The four countries who make up the group—Germa ...

discussions aimed at halting the invasion of Ukraine by

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. * 2014 - Due to the long-standing policy of never sending weapons to conflict zones, Germany stops all sales of weapons to Ukraine. * 2014 - EU sanctions against Russia. Ostpolitik policy was dramatically shaken after 2014 as Russia threatened Ukraine, seized Crimea, and sponsored fighting in eastern Ukraine. Berlin denounced Moscow's actions as a violation of international law, and took a leadership role in formulating EU sanctions. However, Germany depends heavily on Russian energy supplies via the

Nord Stream Nord Stream (German-English mixed expression; german: Nord and en, Stream, literally 'North Stream'; russian: Северный поток, ''Severny potok'') is a network of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe which run under the Baltic Sea f ...

pipeline, so it has proceeded cautiously and opposes American efforts to cancel Nord Stream.Marco Siddi, "German foreign policy towards Russia in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis: A new Ostpolitik?." Europe-Asia Studies 68.4 (2016): 665-677. * 2018 July - the planned

Nord Stream 2 Nord Stream 2 (German-English mixed expression; german: Nord and en, Stream 2, literally 'North Stream2'; russian: Северный поток — 2) is a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany running through the Baltic Sea, financed by ...

gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was opposed by Ukrainian President

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...

. * 2021 December - Germany blocks arms supplies to Ukraine during the

2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis In March and April 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to begin massing thousands of personnel and equipment near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobilization since the annex ...

. * 2022 January - British

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

C-17 planes take a long detour around German air space to deliver thousands of

NLAW The Saab Bofors Dynamics NLAW (pronounced: ''"N-LAW"'', ), also known as the MBT LAW or RB 57, is a fire-and-forget, lightweight shoulder-fired, and disposable (single-use) line of sight (LOS) missile system, designed for infantry use. The mi ...

anti-tank weapons to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. Ukraine's foreign minister

Dmytro Kuleba Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( uk, Дмитро Іванович Кулеба; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and communications specialist, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is also concurrently a member ...

states that Ukrainians will remember Germany's position "for decades". * 2022 January - The German ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen is summoned to Ukraine's foreign ministry over comments by

German navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

chief

Kay-Achim Schönbach Kay-Achim Schönbach (born 9 July 1965) was a German vice admiral who served as the Inspector of the Navy of the German Navy from 24 March 2021 to 22 January 2022. Schönbach resigned his position after his political remarks regarding the ongoin ...

; vice admiral Schönbach resigns as a result. * 2022 January - Germany offers 5,000 helmets to Ukraine. The offer is ridiculed and the transfer delayed. * 2022 February -

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party serving as Germany's minister for foreign affairs since 2021. From 2018 to January 2022, Baerbock served as co-leader of Allia ...

as a representative of Germany's foreign ministry requested German citizens to urgently leave

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

poised to invade Ukraine, Furthermore, after G7 meeting, she assured the united support by the group for Ukraine. * 2022 February - On Saturday, February 26, Germany abandoned a long-standing policy of never sending weapons to conflict zones; it increased its support for Ukraine's fight against Russia, approving arms transfers to Kyiv in a policy reversal and agreeing to block Moscow's access to the SWIFT interbank system. * 2022 April - Ukraine rejects a request for an official visit by German President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

who is widely perceived in Ukraine as being pro-Russian owing to his support for

and past comments accusing

of "warmongering". * 2022 April - Germany commits to sending armored anti-aircraft systems and armored vehicles to Ukraine. The first three

Flakpanzer Gepard The ''Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard'' ("anti-aircraft-gun tank 'Cheetah, better known as the Flakpanzer Gepard) is an all-weather-capable German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG). It was developed in the 1960s, fielded in the 1970s, an ...

arrived in Ukraine on 25 July 2022. Thirty Gepards were delievered until 20 September 2022. * 2022 May - the German government committed to send seven PzH 2000 artillery pieces to Ukraine, with five more from the Dutch government. Ukrainian troops arrive in Germany five days later for training and the Ukrainian government subsequently places an order to purchase a further 100 PzH 2000 howitzers from Germany.

Diplomatic missions location

Germany has an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

and 1 Consulate-General in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

(due to Russian aggression (

War in Donbass War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

) temporarily in

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

). Ukraine has an

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and 3 Consulates-General in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Head of missions (1917-1920s)

;Germany * 1917-18

* 1918-19 Johannes (Hans) Graf von Berchem ;Ukraine * 1918-18 Oleksandr Sevriuk ''(

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

)'' * 1918-18 Omelian Koziy ''(

)'' * 1918-18

* 1918-20

Mykola Porsh Mykola Volodymyrovych Porsh ( uk, Микола Володимирович Порш) was a political and civil activist of Ukraine, economist, member of the Russian Constituent Assembly. He was a prominent activist of the Revolutionary Ukrainian ...

* 1921-23

Roman Smal-Stocki Roman Stepanovych Smal-Stocki (Роман Степанович Смаль-Стоцький) (born: January 8, 1893, Chernivtsi - died April 27, 1969, Washington DC) – was a Ukrainian diplomat, scholar, politician. Ph.D. Professor at the Ukrainian ...

* 1923-23 Nikolaus von Wassilko ''(

)'' ;Soviets (representative of the Soviet government in Ukraine) * 1921-23

Voldemar Aussem Voldemar Khristianovich Aussem (russian: Вольдемар (Владимир) Христианович Ауссем; , in Oryol – 1936), was a Russian nobleman and revolutionary, communist official and Soviet diplomat. From 1899 he studied a ...

Resident diplomatic missions

* Germany has an embassy in

. * Ukraine has an embassy in

and consulates-general in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

. File:Embassy of Germany in Kyiv 2017.jpg, Embassy of Germany in Kyiv File:Berlin, Mitte, Albrechtstrasse 26, Botschaft Ukraine.jpg, Embassy of Ukraine in Berlin

References

External links

* ttp://www.mfa.gov.ua/germany/ Ukrainian embassy in Berlin (in German and Ukrainian language) {{DEFAULTSORT:Germany-Ukraine relations

Bilateral relations of Ukraine