German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned that the war in Ukraine is losing the focus of public attention and urged people to continue to support the embattled nation.
"Ukraine needs our support all the more now that war is also raging in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine is no longer receiving the attention it so urgently needs," Steinmeier told the German-Ukrainian municipal partnership conference in Leipzig on Wednesday.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin's calculation is that the world should forget about Ukraine," he said. Germany must not and will not do the Russian president this favour, he said.
"We will not get used to Russia's unlawful and inhumane war of aggression," said Steinmeier.
Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022. War has been raging there ever since. Steinmeier said the war does not differentiate among cities and villages. "It affects everyone in Ukraine." That is why it is important that there is support not only between governments, but also between cities and municipalities.
"There is no more long-term, no more sustainable support than these ties between the people in our two countries."
