German Chancellor Scholz is in Kyiv to meet with Ukraine's president

German Chancellor¹ Scholz is in Kyiv to meet with Ukraine's president

Transcript²

It's the first stop in a trip that will also take Scholz to Moscow. At the same time, the Ukrainian town of Lviv, which is on the Polish border, is preparing for a Russian invasion.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is in Ukraine today. It's the first stop in a trip that will also take him to Moscow, and it's the latest attempt by Western leaders to defuse the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, which the U.S. is warning could happen at any moment. In a few moments, we will talk to the former ambassador - former U.S. ambassador - to Ukraine about the American diplomatic strategy. But first, NPR's Joanna Kakissis is with us from Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

Good morning, Joanna.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE³: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: What are you hearing about what Ukrainians want to hear from the German chancellor?

KAKISSIS: So Ukrainians want Western leaders, including Olaf Scholz, to communicate something other than panic. I mean, more than a dozen countries, including Germany and the U.S., have told their citizens to get out of Ukraine immediately. And many embassies, including the American Embassy, say they're planning to move at least some of their operations from the capital Kyiv, where I am, to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine. Ukraine's neighbor Poland has also opened its border to Americans heading west.

MARTIN: And Lviv and that direction - I mean, that's going to be the way out for many people who are trying to evacuate⁴ Ukraine if the airport shuts down, right?

KAKISSIS: Yeah, that's right. Lviv is in the far west of Ukraine. The Polish border is less than a two-hour drive away. Hungary, Slovakia and Romania are also close. These countries are all NATO members, and they're also members of the European Union. I just spent a couple of days reporting in Lviv. And the Ukrainians I spoke⁵ to there are really disappointed that so many Western countries are telling their citizens to flee. I met a tour guide, Ivanka Gonak, who told me Ukrainians are feeling very alone.

IVANKA GONAK: I'm a mother of three children, and I'm a bit desperate because I don't know if Ukraine should rely on the help of international community. Each family that I know - they have their emergency backpacks. They feel they might need to run any moment.

KAKISSIS: And, you know, most Ukrainians - they do not want to run. Remember, they have lived with Russia as an aggressive neighbor for many years. The Ukrainians I spoke to joked that the only locals - the only Ukrainians who are actually running away are the oligarchs who flew away on their private planes over the weekend.

MARTIN: So the German chancellor is going to meet with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Is that going to be tense, Joanna? - because many Ukrainians have not been very pleased with how Germany has handled this crisis.

KAKISSIS: Yeah. The Ukrainians feel like the German government is trying too hard to play nice with Russia. When I was in Lviv, I spoke to the mayor there, Andriy Sadovyi. He says Germany has weakened itself by partnering with Russia on a major gas pipeline⁶ called Nord Stream 2. He's angry that Germany continued to move forward with Nord Stream 2 even after Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine. He got really emotional discussing this.

ANDRIY SADOVYI: It is crazy. It is crazy. (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: And he's switching to Ukrainian here and saying, "the whole world needs to wake up - wake up - when it comes to Russia."

Scholz has been cautious with Russia, but he has promised tough sanctions if Russia attacks Ukraine. And Nord Stream 2 is definitely on the table as a sanction option today. He's expected to speak with prime - or with President Zelenskyy about how to stabilize⁷ the Ukrainian economy. International fears have taken a real toll⁸ on Ukraine's currency, and that's a big issue here right now.

MARTIN: Have you gotten a sense, Joanna, from the Ukrainians you've talked to as to whether they have any faith in diplomacy⁹ at this point?

KAKISSIS: I mean, Ukrainians are like, if we have to do this alone, that's what we're going to do. They are - they've gotten used to it after so many years of living next to an aggressive neighbor.

MARTIN: NPR's Joanna Kakissis reporting from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Joanna, thank you for all your reporting. We appreciate it.

KAKISSIS: You're welcome.

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

7 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。