German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for increased financial support for Ukraine as European Union leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels.
Merz told journalists on Friday that he had argued during several smaller meetings that Europe must do everything possible to support Ukraine through the winter and into next year.
“We will also have to increase the funds again here in order to really help Ukraine on a lasting basis,” he said.
Although Ukraine’s budget for this year is fully funded, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said during a visit to Brussels in September that the country faced a shortfall of 32.6 billion dollars in its regular budget for next year.
The funding gap for defence spending stood at 45 billion dollars.
Merz also rejected a proposal to transfer part of the Russian assets frozen in the European Union to the United States for use as leverage in peace negotiations.
He said the assets, estimated at about 210 billion euros (235 billion dollars), should remain in Europe.
“That is our matter, and we decide on it,” he added.
The Financial Times previously reported that the proposal to transfer part of the assets was raised at a meeting involving government representatives from the United States, Ukraine and Europe in Miami. Germany, the United Kingdom and France also participated in the meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to attend the EU summit on Friday, while Merz visited Kyiv last week.
“We are seeing an increasingly ruthless wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine,” Merz said in Brussels.
“And I remain firmly convinced that we are not only defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but also defending Europe’s political order, which Russia is really putting under pressure in every respect here,” he added.
