The Kiev Protocol

• On Wednesday evening, the first rumors circulated that Federal President Ignazio Cassis (61) would be in Ukraine on Thursday.

• Shortly before 8 am, the head of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) actually arrives in Kiev. Cassis had come from Poland by night train.

• He is not alone. Also present: Councilor Mathias Zopfi (38, Greens/GL), National Councilor Marianne Binder-Keller (64, Mitte/AG), Director of Deza Patricia Danzi (53), Ambassador Dominique Paravicini (55), Delegate of the Federal Council for trade agreements. The Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine, Claude Wild (58), welcomes the Federal President at the train station. Cassis tweeted a photo of the train station.

• The photo caught the attention of the German media – their Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (66), had canceled his planned trip to Ukraine “for security reasons”. “Bild” shows Cassis in Kiev and maliciously headlines: “Mr. Steinmeier, look! Here is a federal president visiting Ukraine.”

• From the train station, Cassis goes to Hotel Intercontinental in Kiev. According to the “Tages-Anzeiger” he is accompanied by the elite troops of the Swiss reconnaissance detachment AAD 10.

• The special forces take Cassis to the village of Borodianka, which is an hour and a half drive from Kiev. Russian soldiers wreaked havoc here last winter with tanks and artillery shells, killing countless Ukrainians.

• Shortly after 11 a.m. Federal President Cassis met the Appenzeller entrepreneur Martin Huber (66). Huber developed a wooden house in Switzerland, which he has mass-produced in his Ukrainian factory – and gives to homeless Ukrainian families. So far he has been able to deliver seven houses. “The Federal President was enthusiastic about our project,” said Huber over the phone. “Cassis told me money wasn’t an issue.” Huber now hopes for financial support from the federal government. He plans to build 20 more houses by Christmas. They should be given to families whose homes have been destroyed by Russian soldiers.

• At noon, Federal Councilor Cassis visits a school for children with disabilities destroyed by the Russians. He was “appalled by the war of aggression against civilian infrastructure and moved by the resilience of Ukraine and its citizens in Borodianka and Ivankiv,” he wrote on Twitter. Humanitarian aid from Switzerland is needed to help people survive the winter.

• The German media praised Cassis for his courage in going to Ukraine – and reported Steinmeier’s “fearful rabbit cancellation”.

• After a short break at the Hotel Intercontinental, Cassis is driven to the Marienpalast in Kiev, the ceremonial residence of President Volodymyr Zelensky (44).

• The Swiss Foreign Minister spends more than two hours in the palace. First, there is a two-way conversation between Federal President Cassis and President Selenski. Then Cassis and Selenski meet with their delegations for another conversation, again with Danzi, Wild, Binder-Keller, and Zopfi. “During my meeting with President Zelenksi, I expressed my support for the Ukrainian people,” Cassis wrote on Twitter. “We have discussed humanitarian needs and Swiss aid to Ukraine at the bilateral and multilateral levels.”

• There is a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (41).

• Then Cassis drives to St. Michael’s Monastery, the seat of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Together with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal (47), he participates in a ceremony at the memorial wall for the fallen of Ukraine.

• The original plan was for Cassis to spend the night in Kiev and visit the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Friday. This visit was canceled at short notice.

• Cassis will board a train to Moldova on Thursday evening instead. A meeting with President Maia Sandu (50) is scheduled for Friday in the capital Chisinau.