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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signalled that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to facilitate direct talks between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy within the next two weeks.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Merz said that the location for the meeting had not yet been determined. Merz cautioned against pressuring Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia and drew a sharp analogy.
Ensuring Germany’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, Merz said, “The Russian demand that Kyiv give up the free parts of Donbas corresponds, to put it bluntly, to a proposal for the United States to have to give up Florida.”
During a press briefing, Merz was asked whether Germany would consider sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as part of future security guarantees.
Expecting careful coordination from European partners and the United States, he said, “What is totally clear is that all of Europe should be involved. This isn’t just about Ukraine’s territory, it’s about the political order of Europe, and Germany has a major interest and responsibility.”
The German leader further highlighted that any deployment of Bundeswehr troops abroad would require parliamentary approval. A Bundestag mandate would be essential before sending German soldiers to Ukraine under a peacekeeping framework.
The meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be the first since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Monday’s meetings between Trump and Zelenskyy were followed by a summit last Friday in Alaska, where the US President hosted Putin. The summit marked Putin’s first visit to the US since 2015. While both leaders described the discussions as “progressive,” no concrete steps toward ending the war in Ukraine were revealed.
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