Merz Warns of Putin’s Threat to West in Surprise Kyiv Visit

(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated Germany’s backing for Ukraine as he arrived in Kyiv on Sunday and warned that Russia could attack the Western alliance if it’s not stopped.

“I traveled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks,” Merz said, according to remarks distributed by the government in Berlin. “If Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later be turned against us.”

Now well into its fifth year, Russia’s war on Ukraine has intensified in recent weeks, with both sides targeting energy infrastructure as winter approaches.

Ukraine said on Friday it attacked one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries and a key hub in the country’s crude-pipeline network. Russian forces later hit a major bridge in Kyiv and a logistics center near the capital, in the latest series of drone attacks on civil infrastructure.

Merz was joined on his trip to Ukraine’s capital by his economy minister, Katherina Reiche, and 10 executives from defense and energy companies, according to German media.

“Our partnership is not a one-way street,” Merz said. “German and Ukrainian companies are jointly developing technologies that benefit both countries. This makes us safer and stronger.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who greeted the German leader upon his arrival by train, said Merz will hold talks Sunday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Their agenda would focus on “strengthening Ukraine, our defense and resilience, and our shared European security,” he said. 

In a post on social media, Merz said Ukraine is facing “decisive weeks,” which had prompted his decision to travel there to show his support.

Germany has provided more than €50 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the Kiel Institute, the second most after the US with €115 billion.

“Germany’s security, too, depends on the outcome of this war,” the conservative leader wrote. “That is why we are helping out of our own vital interest as well.”

It’s Merz’s second visit to Kyiv as chancellor after he traveled there with the French president and the British and Polish prime ministers shortly after taking office in May last year.

(Updates with additional details starting in third paragraph.)

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