A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Kyiv wanted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to visit and pledge more arms deliveries, explaining a snub to Berlin's head of state, France 24 reports.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted on Tuesday he had offered to visit Ukraine with other EU leaders, but Kyiv had told him he was not welcome right now.
The move against Steinmeier -- a former foreign minister who recently acknowledged "errors" in a too conciliatory stance toward Moscow in the past -- was widely seen as a diplomatic affront in Germany.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych told German public television on Wednesday it had not been Zelensky's intention to offend Berlin.
"I think the main argument was different -- our president expects the chancellor, so that he (Scholz) can take direct practical decisions, including weapons deliveries," he told broadcaster ZDF.
The German president has a largely ceremonial role while the chancellor heads the government.
Arestovych said the fate of the strategic port city of Mariupol and the civilian population of eastern Ukraine "depends on the German weapons we could get", but that have not been promised.
