Leaders from Germany's Social Democrats visit Kiev

Two high-ranking politicians from Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are in Kiev for a visit that could see them confronted with their party's shortcomings in dealing with Russia prior to the invasion of Ukraine.

Party chief Lars Klingbeil and his colleague Rolf Mützenich, who leads the SPD in Germany's parliament, arrived in the Ukrainian capital by a special train early Monday.

They are scheduled to hold a series of talks with government officials, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and parliamentary representatives.

Among their first meetings was with with Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

"We as the SPD have always made it clear that we stand unreservedly by Ukraine's side," Klingbeil said in Kiev. "You can see that since day one of the outbreak of war."

But the SPD has had to grapple with strong criticism over its Russia policies prior to Moscow's invasion a year ago.

Critics, including in Ukraine, accuse the party of having badly misjudged Russian President Vladimir Putin for decades.

The SPD was among the political forces in Berlin that generally believed cooperating with Russia would strengthen European stability, an outlook that contributed to Germany's energy dependency on Russia, for instance.

Klitschko called the visit by the two politicians "a majorly important signal to Ukraine and outside Ukraine."

"The stronger the support for Ukraine becomes, the faster we will win this war," he said.

Klingbeil assured Ukraine of further support for its defensive struggle against Russia. He pointed out that Germany had already supplied or pledged numerous weapons systems in addition to political and financial assistance.

Before emerging as the strongest force in Germany's 2021 elections, the SPD last governed from 1998 to 2005. Between 2005 and 2021, the country's government was led by the conservative Christian Democrats under former chancellor Angela Merkel but the SPD was the junior partner in a ruling coalition during the larger part of that period.

The party currently governs as part of a three-party coalition with the Greens and the business-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Both Klingbeil and Mützenich have already publicly admitted to past misjudgments regarding the SPD's Russia policies.

The party is planning to redefine its foreign policy line, including its position on Russia, at a party conference in December.

Several high-ranking SPD politicians have already visited Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, most notably Chancellor Scholz in June last year.