Merz Hosts Zelenskyy in Berlin: €200 Million More in Winter Aid, Coalition of the Willing Invited to Berlin on November 19
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Chancellery in Berlin on November 3, Zelenskyy's seventh trip to Berlin since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Merz said afterwards that Germany would provide an additional €200 million to help Ukraine through the coming winter, €100 million from the Foreign Office budget and €100 million from development policy funds. He said Germany would keep supporting Ukraine until the war ends, and that its outcome would shape European security for a long time. Merz also noted that NATO had agreed on €70 billion in military support for Ukraine for 2026, and that all partners must meet that commitment.
Zelenskyy also met the President of the Bundestag the same day to discuss energy assistance and the scale of German support. The medium-term budget framework the German government approved in April already sets €11.6 billion in support for Ukraine in 2027, and €8.5 billion a year from 2028 to 2030; Merz said the scale of help for 2027 would be settled at the upcoming meetings, with military support as the main focus.
Merz announced that he has invited the Coalition of the Willing to meet in Berlin on November 19, to coordinate further assistance with Britain and France and to align diplomatic efforts for the event of a ceasefire. Two days earlier, on November 17, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group of more than 50 nations is due to meet to coordinate aid; and next week the coalition's Multinational Force Ukraine will hold its first major exercise in Poland.
Zelenskyy set out three priorities in Berlin: a ceasefire on attacks against energy and critical infrastructure, an end to the blockade of grain shipments through the Black Sea, and an all-for-all prisoner exchange. He said he would neither accept an invitation to Moscow nor agree to a phone call with Vladimir Putin, describing such gestures as delaying tactics, and would not invite Putin to Kyiv: 'In 2022, the Russians came there without an invitation.' Shortly before Zelenskyy arrived, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff announced that Russia, Ukraine and the United States would hold trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.
Related: Coalition of the Willing force to hold first major exercise in Poland
Source: Federal Chancellery of Germany
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于柏林的德国联邦总理府（资料图）。照片 CC0，作者 Perituss，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Federal Chancellery in Berlin (file photo). CC0, by Perituss, via Wikimedia Commons.
