Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced about €1 billion more in military aid and €350 million for energy repairs on a Kyiv visit marked by Russian drone strikes. Executives signed agreements worth about €6.6 billion.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would not be intimidated into dropping support for Ukraine as he announced a further €1 billion, about $1.1 billion, in military aid during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, Reuters reported. Russian drone strikes hit the capital during the trip.
Merz called on President Vladimir Putin to abandon the war. The Guardian reported he also announced €350 million for repairs to the energy sector and German funding for joint production of drones meant to intercept Russia's jet-powered drones.
German officials said executives travelling with Merz signed 14 agreements with the Ukrainian government and businesses worth roughly €6.6 billion. The package included an IRIS-T missile supply deal with Diehl Defence, radar equipment with Hensoldt, and jet drone interceptors with Quantum Systems, Reuters said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was sharing knowledge and orders as well as receiving help, and he promised retaliation for the escalation in drone strikes. Air-raid sirens and explosions sounded repeatedly in Kyiv during the visit, the Guardian reported.
Russia has called accusations of hybrid warfare baseless and the product of anti-Russian hysteria, Reuters noted. The aid figures are government announcements; delivery schedules were not spelled out in the reports used here.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Merz said the visit showed Germany would not be intimidated.
- Zelenskiy cast the deals as a two-way exchange of aid and Ukrainian experience.