German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expects the war in Ukraine to drag on – he spoke about this in an interview with the German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday.
“I am preparing myself for the fact that this war may last much longer,” emphasised the German Chancellor, saying he has no illusions about how wars end. “Either with the military defeat of one side by the other – I do not currently see this in the case of either Russia or Ukraine. Or through economic or military exhaustion. But I do not see this on either side at present either,” he added.
As he said, intensive diplomatic initiatives are currently under way to end the war as soon as possible, “but certainly not at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation”.
He justified this by saying that another country would follow in the event of Ukraine’s capitulation. “Then the day after tomorrow it would be us. This is not an option,” he added.
Merz, however, rejected speculation about the deployment of German peacekeepers in Ukraine. “In the current situation no one is talking about ground troops in Ukraine,” he said. Western allies are negotiating security guarantees in the event of a possible ceasefire.
“The top priority is supporting the Ukrainian army so that it can permanently defend the country,” he stressed. He emphasised that this is what they are working on now. Many other issues will become relevant only if an agreement is reached with Russia – he added.
In this context he stressed that Ukraine must preserve its independence and its freedom to choose its alliances.
The German Chancellor also emphasised that the United States must be involved in the settlement in any case, and urged Washington to adopt further sanctions against Moscow due to the cancellation of the Russian-Ukrainian summit.
