Ukrainian President Zelensky to visit Berlin on Friday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to travel to Berlin on Friday to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, dpa learnt on Wednesday.

This announcement follows US President Joe Biden's decision on Tuesday to postpone his planned visit to Germany later this week due to Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall in Florida.

Biden's administration has expressed grave concern about the hurricane. The powerful storm appears to be headed for areas of the US including Florida which recently suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Helene.

Biden was due to host a high-level Ukraine summit at the US air base in Ramstein, western Germany, but that meeting has now been cancelled.

The US president had been expected to arrive in Berlin on Thursday evening, where he was scheduled to meet with Scholz and Steinmeier.

Biden had planned to then travel to the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the summit at the US airbase in Ramstein on Saturday. Zelensky was also originally due to attend the gathering.

Before Zelensky's visit to Berlin was announced, the US command at the airbase in Ramstein said an announcement on further meetings would follow shortly, the command said.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group - a US-led body soon to be absorbed into NATO - consists of 50 countries that support Ukraine in its defence against Russia's full-scale invasion by supplying weapons and armaments.

It has met several times in Ramstein at the level of defence ministers. However, the meeting planned for Saturday would have been the first summit at the level of of heads of state and government.

In addition to Biden, about 20 other leaders had confirmed their attendance, including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

No alternative dates for either Biden's visit or the summit have yet been set, however, a spokesman for the German defence minister said that there is an intention to organize at least one meeting at the defence minister level before the end of October.