Could German police's Zelenskyy leak jeopardize the trip?

German media was awash with reports on Wednesday about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to Berlin and to Aachen next week. 

It began with a story in Wednesday's print edition of the Berliner Zeitung (BZ) citing an unnamed Berlin police source as confirming the visit. Most other major national publications soon followed, either using BZ's information or often obtaining more of their own. 

Reports soon turned their attention to further details — like which precise Berlin hotel the president would stay in and the various security measures being implemented, details we will intentionally not publish here.

With the cat partially out of the bag, police then also issued statements confirming the information to news agencies like Reuters and dpa. The story had duly gone global as well in the mean time.

But even after all this, Germany's government never chimed in. Asked about the rather widespread reports on at a daily press briefing on Wednesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman would only say that Scholz's scheduled appointments for the coming week would be published on Friday, as usual.

Zelenskyy's whereabouts usually a closely-guarded secret

Ukraine tends to keep Zelenskyy's whereabouts as secret as possible. His travel plans only tend to be announced after the fact or at the last minute, sometimes even after his safe return — for instance when visiting more dangerous areas on the front lines in Ukraine.

His arrival in Finland on Wednesday for talks with Nordic leaders, for example, came as a surprise to most. 

His most recent face-to-face talks with Olaf Scholz and France's Emmanuel Macron in Paris in February were only announced by the French presidential office on the day of his arrival.

The idea behind this secrecy is very simple: it's not unreasonable to assume Russia might seek to target Zelenskyy personally if it knows of his exact whereabouts. 

This danger arguably intensified on Wednesday, given Moscow's allegations — met with skepticism abroad — of a foiled Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Kremlin overnight that it described as an assassination attempt on President Vladimir Putin.

Thereafter, Russian former President Dmitry Medvedev said on social media that the alleged drone attack, denied by Zelenskyy among others, left Moscow with no options but to "eliminate" Zelenskyy and his "clique" in Kyiv. 

Loose lips sink trips? 

One follow-up report later on Wednesday in Germany suggested that Ukraine's government was displeased by the travel plans' publication. 

The t-online news website cited unnamed "sources close to the government" in Kyiv as saying Ukraine was "deeply disappointed" that "very sensitive security information" appeared to have been "consciously" published, "seemingly from German sources." 

The publication cited its sources as calling this "irresponsible" and saying that it could "cast a potential visit by the Ukrainian president into question."

Some clues of potential visit had long existed, but not confirmation 

Some indications of a possible reason for Zelenskyy to visit Germany next week specifically had long been in the public domain. Nevertheless, it appeared at most a mere possibility until police in Berlin's comments to BZ and others. 

Apart from talks presumably with top government officials in Berlin, scheduled for May 13, Zelenskyy is also expected in the western German city of Aachen on May 14.

There, he would accept the Charlemagne Prize for 2022 — he and the Ukrainian people were announced the joint-winners in December. 

However, even knowing Zelenskyy had claimed the prize and knowing the date of the ceremony in Aachen was nowhere near sufficient to deduce the president might collect the award in person. 

Since Russia's invasion last February, Zelenskyy's wife has appeared on his behalf at some similar award ceremonies abroad, and for many other comparable events — say this year's Berlinale film festival, to take a recent German example — the wartime leader had joined proceedings via videolink. 

Based on official information, Zelenskyy has made only a handful of foreign trips since Russia's invasion, never stepping foot in Germany. He was at 2022's Munich Security Conference, just days before the war started. 

Edited by: Rebecca Staudenmaier