Today at 18:04
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised further support for Ukraine.
He said this during a debate on the budget in the Bundestag, The Guardian reports.
Merz promised to continue to support Ukraine ‘even despite the pressure of the left and pro-Russian right in this parliament’.
Speaking about Russia, he expressed concern that ‘diplomacy’ to end the war in Ukraine has been “exhausted”, adding: ‘When a criminal regime openly questions another country’s right to exist through military force and intends to destroy the political order of freedom on the entire European continent, the federal government I lead will do everything in its power to prevent this.’
Separately, he also said that the German army, the Bundeswehr, ‘must quickly get everything it needs to defend Germany’, announcing plans to speed up defence procurement procedures.
As reported earlier, Berlin is holding intensive consultations with partners, including the United States, on how to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence against the backdrop of Russia’s air attacks.
