German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited a Ukrainian border area on Tuesday at the end of a two-day visit to the country.
Baerbock was shown a command post on the three-way border between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus by the head of the National Border Service, Lieutenant General Serhiy Deyneko.
A central task of the border guards is to detect and shoot down attack drones as quickly as possible when they cross the border.
Dejneko showed Baerbock numerous types of drones and the remains of a downed Iranian-designed Shahed drone.
Call for more international support
Earlier, Baerbock called on international partners to provide more support to Ukraine as she visited a memorial to the victims of Russian atrocities in the village of Yahidne, northeast of the capital Kiev.
Baerbock said the monument reminds people “what the Russian occupation means: inhumanity, terror. Things that no one in this world would want to experience.”
“We, as political leaders in Europe, must also have the strength internationally to continue to provide Ukraine with financial and humanitarian support,” she said.
During the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces occupied Yahidne. From March 3 to 31, the Russians held more than 350 residents prisoner in the basement of the village school, which was the headquarters of the occupying forces at the time.
The youngest hostage was six weeks old, the oldest 93 years old. A total of 77 children and young people were detained, including five infants. Ten elderly people died in captivity.
According to the public prosecutor, seven people were shot dead by the Russian occupiers.
Baerbock’s visit to the area was briefly disrupted by an air raid warning in the historic center of the city of Chernihiv. At the time, she was shown a UN project in the city. She had already seen a youth center destroyed in a rocket attack at the start of the invasion in February 2022.
On Monday, Baerbock met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledged another €200 million ($218 million) to support Ukrainians through their third winter of war.
