BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz mentioned on Saturday he anticipated that Russia would solely cease its battle towards Ukraine as soon as it may not wage it for financial and navy causes, on condition that diplomatic efforts in current weeks had failed.
“All efforts of the previous weeks have been answered with an much more aggressive strategy by this regime in Moscow towards the inhabitants in Ukraine,” Merz mentioned at a regional occasion of his conservatives within the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
“This may also not cease till we guarantee collectively that Russia, not less than for financial causes, and maybe additionally for navy causes … can not proceed this battle.”
Earlier on Saturday, the chief of Russia’s normal employees, Common Valery Gerasimov, mentioned his troops had been waging a continuous offensive alongside nearly all the entrance line in Ukraine and that they’d the “strategic initiative”.
Russia has additionally stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and cities far behind the entrance strains this summer season.
Efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to discover a diplomatic resolution to the battle, now in its fourth 12 months, have to date failed, and Kyiv and its European allies together with Germany are calling for harder financial sanctions on Moscow.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah MarshEditing by Gareth Jones)
