Zelensky set to meet Germany's Merz in Berlin

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a phone call with Albania's Prime Minister as he sits in his office in Kyiv on May 26, 2025. [AFP] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to visit Germany on Wednesday for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has pledged muscular backing for Kyiv in its fight against Russia. Zelensky's visit will focus on "German support for Ukraine and efforts to secure a ceasefire" with Russia to end more than three years of war, German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement. During their Berlin talks from noon (1000 GMT), Zelensky and Merz are also expected to discuss EU efforts to levy more sanctions on Moscow amid a lack of progress so far towards ceasefire and eventual peace talks. After a joint press conference with Merz, Zelensky was due to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to greet him with military honours at Bellevue Palace. The Berlin visit comes days after Russia launched some of its heaviest missile and drone attacks of the conflict on Ukraine, and as US President Donald Trump has voiced growing frustration with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Conservative Merz, since taking office on May 6, has vowed to continue strong backing for Ukraine in concert with Paris, London and Warsaw. He has also pushed to ramp up German defence spending with the goal of creating Europe's "strongest conventional army". Taking over from centre-left leader Olaf Scholz, he has changed the tone in Berlin and voiced harsh criticism of Putin who, Merz charged this week, "obviously sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness". Merz, speaking last week in Lithuania -- where Germany is building up a tank brigade to help guard NATO's eastern flank -- declared that "there is a threat to us all from Russia". The previous German government of Scholz strongly backed Kyiv but shied away from sending it long-range Taurus missiles, worried that this might escalate tensions with Russia. Merz has in the past said he favours delivery of Taurus, but his new government has stressed it would no longer detail what arms it is sending to Ukraine, preferring a stance of strategic ambiguity. On Monday, Merz said that Ukraine's main Western allies, including Berlin, were no longer imposing restrictions on the range of weapons supplied to Kyiv. He did not specify whether these remarks would have an impact on future weapons supplies from Berlin to Ukraine, particularly the Taurus missiles, which have a range of over 500 kilometres and could reach deep into Russian territory. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and ravaged large parts of the east and south of the country. Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have accelerated in recent weeks, with Russian and Ukrainian officials holding direct talks for the first time in three years earlier this month. But Putin has been accused of stalling peace talks and the Kremlin has shown no signs of scaling back its maximalist demands. Trump, who has long promised he would broker an end to the war, issued a rare rebuke of Putin on social media on Sunday. "I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" The Kremlin played down Trump's criticism on Monday, saying that Putin was taking measures "necessary to ensure Russia's security" and that everyone was feeling "emotional" at the moment.

Zelensky set to meet Germany's Merz in Berlin

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Zelensky set to meet Germany's Merz in Berlin

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