According to his spokesperson, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, paid an unexpected visit to Germany on Thursday as part of Kyiv’s efforts to secure the West’s ongoing support for the beleaguered nation.

The trip was intended “to visit the (US) military base in Wiesbaden, from where the assistance from partners is coordinated,” according to Zelenskyy spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov.

Andriy Yermak, the presidential chief of staff of Ukraine, tweeted a picture of a flexed bicep and the German flag on X, the old Twitter.

A police spokesman in the German business capital Frankfurt told AFP earlier that Zelenskyy had “appointments in the Rhine-Main area.”

The spokesman said police officers had accompanied Zelenskyy from Frankfurt airport toward nearby Wiesbaden and had temporarily blocked off traffic for security reasons.

Politico had reported Wednesday that German defense firms were given 24 hours to list armaments that could be sent to Ukraine next year, based on a request to industry from senior government officials.

Last year the US Department of Defense established a new organization in Wiesbaden to coordinate long-term security force assistance.

As he urged allies in Europe and the US to keep backing Kyiv, Zelenskyy on Wednesday made an unannounced visit to Oslo for talks with the leaders of the five Nordic countries on the eve of a crunch European Union meeting in Brussels.

Earlier Thursday he joined the leaders of the 27 EU member states by video link, urging them not to hand Russia a political victory by denying vital support.

The EU’s leaders were focused at a crunch summit in Brussels on granting Kyiv a four-year 50-billion-euro ($55-billion) funding package and an agreement to launch formal EU talks for Ukraine on joining the bloc.