German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has visited Ukraine. She is the first member of Germany's federal cabinet to travel there since the Russian invasion began.

Baerbock started her visit on Monday in Bucha, where a large number of civilians' bodies were found after Russian troops pulled out of the town.

She then held talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

At a joint news conference with Kuleba, Baerbock described the killings of civilians as war crimes by Russia. She strongly condemned the actions.

She explained that Germany is sending weapons to Ukraine to prevent such war crimes from happening again. Fighting is continuing in the eastern parts of the country.

Baerbock announced that Ukrainian troops will be taught to operate the self-propelled artillery systems that Germany has promised to provide. She said the training sessions will start in a few days.

The foreign minister expressed her country's solidarity with Ukraine. She said Germany is willing to continue to support Kyiv. She announced that the German embassy in Kyiv will be reopened with a limited number of staff members. It is currently closed.

Baerbock said in the future Germany will completely do without energy imports from Russia. She said her country will permanently reduce its dependence on Russian energy to zero. Germany is currently heavily dependent on Russian energy, especially natural gas.

Germany is now becoming one of the hardliners among the European Union countries, and is providing Ukraine with a lot of military support.

Kuleba said Ukraine is grateful that Germany has changed its positions on a number of issues.