Video shows Angela Merkel violently shaking while meeting Ukrainian president
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was seen violently shaking while welcoming the Ukrainian president, has revealed the reason behind the episode.
Ms Merkel was meeting president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday when she looked as if she was struggling to stand up while they listened to national anthems during military honours upon his arrival to Berlin.
While she waited with Mr Zelensky for the German Armed Forces’ honour formation to pass, her legs and body began to tremble, raising concerns about her health.
The chancellor was standing in temperatures reaching 30 degrees and Ms Merkel has put the episode down to dehydration, saying she had since drunk water and was feeling better.
"Since then I have drunk at least three glasses of water – I obviously needed that and so I'm doing very well now," Ms Merkel said during a joint news conference with Mr Zelensky in Berlin.
Mr Zelensky, who was standing next to Merkel during the incident, said: "She was completely safe."
Merkel had experienced shaking previously
The 64-year-old chancellor had already shown such trembling on similar occasions before – at that time the reason given had also been that Ms Merkel had not drunk enough water during hot weather.
There were brief concerns about her health in 2014 when she was taken ill during a television interview.
The broadcast was briefly interrupted when she experienced a drop in blood pressure.
Her spokesman Steffen Seibert explained at the time the leader did not feel well for a moment, then ate and drank something and continued the interview.
With AAP and AFP
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