Zelensky to travel to Germany on Sunday: government source

BERLIN, Germany - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Germany on Sunday to meet with leaders of Europe's top economy, a government source in Berlin told AFP.

The trip comes just after Berlin said it was preparing a new weapons package worth 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion) for Kyiv, including tanks, armoured vehicles and air-defence systems.

Zelensky is currently on a visit to Rome to thank Italy for its support and meet with Pope Francis.

Details of Zelensky's Germany trip have not been released, but media reports say he will meet with both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Reports also suggest Zelensky could travel to the western city of Aachen to pick up the Charlemagne Prize, awarded for work done in the service of European unification.

"For the first time in its long history, the Charlemagne Prize is recognising that the freedom and fundamental principles of Europe must be defended with force if necessary," the prize committee's director Juergen Linden told Germany's Tagesspiegel newspaper this week. - AFP