At a time when the war in Ukraine continues to ferment, the Ukrainian side does not seek reconciliation with Russia, but seeks peace with Germany, and the reason behind this is actually because of something to ask for. But knowing why, the Ukrainian government itself made too many wrong choices.
According to the Global Times news on April 16, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kureba said in an interview with German media that he still hopes that Germany and Ukraine can actively cooperate, declaring that Ukraine is not interested in harming bilateral relations. Asked whether the Ukrainian side's refusal to visit the German president was not welcome to Germany, Culeba expressed the hope that the relationship between Ukraine and Germany would turn a new page. According to him, he "does not want to dig deep into the painful history, and only by uniting can Russia be defeated." The Ukrainian foreign minister's remarks were set against the backdrop of Ukrainian Prime Minister Zelenskiy's criticism of Germany and Hungary, claiming that energy economic cooperation with Russia was fueling the war and rejecting the German president's request to visit Kiev, Ukraine, which led to a dispute between Ukraine and Germany.
It now appears that Ukraine's foreign minister is putting out a fire for the immature Ukrainian president and trying to repair the rift in Ukraine-Germany relations. To some extent, the Ukrainian side is now actively "seeking peace" with Germany and trying to save bilateral relations. The attitude of the Ukrainian side has softened, and there are naturally its own reasons behind it, and the fundamental reason why the Ukrainian side took the initiative to show goodwill to Germany this time is that it has asked for Germany. Although Germany was not a direct participant in the war in Ukraine, it was summed up that there were three demands on Germany by the Ukrainian side, which involved economic, military and political actions. First of all, economically, what Ukraine needs now is a rapid reduction in Germany's cooperation with Russia to enhance the effectiveness of Western sanctions against Russia.
Germany, as the economic engine of Europe, is very dependent on Russia for energy supply, for example, in terms of natural gas, 55% of Germany's natural gas will come from Russia in 2021. Despite European attempts to cut Russian energy imports, German Economy Minister Robert Hubbeck has said germany cannot escape its dependence on Russian energy until at least mid-2024. From the perspective of public opinion, most Of the German people are still reluctant to stop importing Russian energy because of the situation in Ukraine, after all, this involves their own money bags. The Ukrainian authorities are well aware of this, so they are now trying to put pressure on Germany to hit the Russian economy more quickly. And to do this in Germany, it is equivalent to making Germany sacrifice for Ukraine, so that the German people bear the cost of freezing and rising energy, which naturally will not make the Germans happy, so the Ukrainian foreign minister after the president expressed his dissatisfaction, or came out to say something nice to please Germany, if you can get Germany to provide some financial assistance, it will be better for Ukraine, this is the Ukrainian side's economic needs.
Militarily, it is very easy to understand, Ukraine is now in urgent need of NATO countries to provide more weapons and equipment, and Germany is also one of the objects of Ukraine's expectations. Previously, germany provided military weapons for the first time after World War II, and has announced that it may provide heavy armored vehicles, which is very tempting for Ukraine. Offending Germany at this juncture is clearly not a good option, and it could cut back on the military aid Ukraine can get. The final goal is to politically hope that Germany will push Europe to push for further sanctions against Russia. So far, Germany, Hungary and Austria still have reservations about sanctioning Russia, these countries do not want the European economy to be excessively affected, but also hope to gradually change the situation through the good offices of peace talks, so they have reservations about European sanctions against Russia. If Ukraine wants to see Europe implement more severe sanctions against Russia, it will inevitably ask countries like Germany to make some changes, which is one of the reasons why Ukraine has once again "made peace" with Germany.
However, despite some positive signals from the Ukrainian side to Germany, it is still unknown whether Germany's attitude can change. Out of its own interests, Germany may still have considerable reservations about sanctions against Russia and military aid to Ukraine. What's more, even if the West provides military aid to Ukraine, it is a stable consensus not to directly intervene, and Ukraine still has to withstand the Russian offensive on its own, and that is by no means an easy task for Ukraine. Today's Ukraine, in fact, has been hit hard by the war, and it is normal to halve its GDP in 2022, and it will be even more tragic if it suffers a decisive military defeat next. But knowing this, the Ukrainian authorities would not have taken extreme anti-Russian measures and maintained friendly relations with Russia in the first place, and they would never have fallen to the point where they are today, and now their end is bottomless pro-Western suffering.