Mr Steinmeier wanted to travel to Kyiv with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the leaders of the Baltic states. But at the last minute, he was told that Zelensky would not meet with him and that he was not welcome. The delayed time of the rebound seemed to cause the greatest embarrassment to Mr Steinmeier. However, Ukraine immediately made it clear that the embarrassment was addressed only to the German president and that Mr Scholz remained welcome in Kyiv. The Ukrainian rage against Mr Steinmeier is genuine. As Angela Merkel’s foreign minister, he was the architect of its policy toward Russia. He was a leading supporter of Nord Stream and had close personal ties with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. Kyiv accuses him of a policy that has left Germany dependent on Russian gas, which he sees as tantamount to calming down the Putin regime. However, the embarrassment may also have been a message to Mr Scholz: it is time to choose whether to continue Mr Steinmeier’s failed course or to keep his own promise of a “turning point” in the wake of the Russian invasion. If so, many in Berlin believe it was a rare tactical mistake by Mr. Zelensky, who generally played a brilliant diplomatic hand in gathering international support for Ukraine. Before ousting Mr Steinmeier, Mr Scholz was under increasing internal pressure to follow in the footsteps of Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen and travel to Ukraine. But he clearly did not want to go, and Mr. Steinmeier’s rejection gave him the perfect cover to stop the journey. To go now, when German politicians are blasting the “unacceptable insult to our head of state”, will be considered inappropriate. Mr Scholz went so far as to describe the Kiev move as “confusing” and “irritating” and said he had “no plans” to travel to Ukraine at this time.