Leaders from Germany's ruling Social Democrats visit Kiev

Two high-ranking politicians from Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are in Kiev for a visit that could see them confronted with their party's shortcomings in dealing with Russia prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
Party chief Lars Klingbeil and his colleague Rolf Mützenich, who leads the SPD in Germany's parliament, arrived in the Ukrainian capital by a special train early Monday.
They are scheduled to hold a series of talks with government as well as parliament representatives.
The SPD has had to grapple with strong criticism over its Russia policies prior to Moscow's invasion a year ago.
Critics, including in Ukraine, accuse the party of having misjudged Russian President Vladimir Putin for decades.
The SPD was among the political forces in Berlin that generally believed cooperating with Russia would strengthen European stability. This outlook helped lead to Germany's energy dependency on Russia, for instance.
Before emerging as the strongest force in Germany's 2021 elections, the SPD last governed from 1998 to 2005. Between 2005 and 2021, the country's government was led by the conservative Christian Democrats under former chancellor Angela Merkel but the SPD was the junior partner in a ruling coalition during the larger part of that period.
The party currently governs as part of a three-party coalition with the Greens and the business-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP).
Both Klingbeil and Mützenich have already publicly admitted to past misjudgments regarding the SPD's Russia policies.
The party is planning to redefine its foreign policy line, including its position on Russia, at a party conference in December.
The exact programme of the visit was initially not made public due to security concerns. Several high-ranking SPD politicians have already visited Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, most notably Chancellor Scholz in June last year.