Germany's Merz: Russia, US cannot settle Ukraine war without Kyiv, Europe

Singapore: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that attempts by the US and Russia to end the war in Ukraine "can never find solutions without Ukraine" and said any talks must also include European countries.

Merz was speaking at the Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore as he described diplomatic efforts to build a negotiating format with Moscow. He said the end of the war depended "only on one person" and framed continued backing for Kyiv as a defence of Europe's political order.

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He said "as long as he (Putin) does not want to end the war, we will support Ukraine" and that Europe was not just defending Ukraine's territorial integrity but also "the entire political order of the European continent"

Merz said Russia, Ukraine, the United States and European countries should be at the negotiating table and warned against a scenario where "Russia, perhaps China and the United States of America" end the war without Ukraine

Merz said Germany and other European countries were trying to establish a format to speak with the Russian government and that Norway and Finland were playing what he called "a very constructive role" in that effort.

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The leaders of Finland and Norway called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to urge him to end the war in Ukraine, breaking with a longstanding practice among Western European leaders of shunning direct contact with the Kremlin