To strengthen Ukraine's air defense, Chancellor Merz contacted US President Trump. Trump also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Zelensky—a"very important and significant" conversation, according to Kyiv.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has directly appealed to US President Donald Trump for further arms deliveries to Ukraine. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius confirmed a corresponding"Spiegel" report to the Reuters news agency on Friday.
The talks on Thursday were initiated by Merz. The reason was a US decision to withhold the delivery of a weapons package to Ukraine, which would have included new air defense missiles for the Patriot system. Germany had offered to purchase the weapons, which had originally been approved by former US President Joe Biden, and hand them over to Ukraine.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to travel to Washington next week. Russia recently massively intensified its air strikes on Ukraine. Trump expressed disappointment after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"No, I haven't made any progress with him at all," Trump replied when asked by a reporter whether he had come any closer to an agreement to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Trump added that he was"not happy" about the ongoing war.
On Friday, Trump also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky stated that during the conversation, he and Trump agreed to cooperate on strengthening Ukraine's air defense."We discussed air defense options and agreed that we will work together to strengthen the protection of our skies," Zelensky wrote online.
The phone call on Friday was"very important and significant," said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President's office. Details will be announced at a later date.
According to a report by the news portal Axios, Trump allegedly promised the Ukrainian president assistance with air defense during the approximately 40-minute conversation. Axios cited a Ukrainian government official and another person familiar with the matter as sources."Trump said he wanted to help with air defense and would investigate what, if any, was being withheld," the portal quoted one of the insiders as saying.
