Germany’s Merz: Russia, US cannot settle Ukraine war without Kyiv, Europe

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that attempts by the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine “can never find solutions without Ukraine” and insisted that European countries must also be involved in any negotiations.

Merz spoke at the Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, where he discussed diplomatic efforts to establish a negotiating format with Moscow. He said the end of the war depended “only on one person” and described continued support for Kyiv as a defence of Europe’s political order.

He said that as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin did not want to end the war, Europe would continue to support Ukraine.

“As long as he (Putin) does not want to end the war, we will support Ukraine,” Merz said, adding that Europe was defending not only Ukraine’s territorial integrity but also “the entire political order of the European continent”.

Merz said Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European countries should be represented at the negotiating table. He warned against a situation in which Russia, possibly alongside China and the United States, reached an agreement to end the war without Ukraine’s participation.

The German chancellor said Germany and other European countries were working to establish a format for engaging with the Russian government. He described Norway and Finland as playing “a very constructive role” in the effort.

The leaders of Finland and Norway called Putin on Tuesday to urge him to end the war in Ukraine, breaking with a longstanding practice among Western European leaders of avoiding direct contact with the Kremlin.

Credit: Reuters