Sending ground troops to Ukraine is not currently under discussion - Merz

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that there is currently no talk of sending ground troops to Ukraine. At the same time, he stressed that ending the russian-Ukrainian war should not be at the cost of Ukraine's surrender.

He said this in an interview with ZDF.

Merz has so far spoken out against ground troops in Ukraine. He noted that now it is about security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire. Only after that will it be possible to implement "many things."

"At the moment, no one is talking about ground troops in Ukraine," he said.

When asked if he hopes that a ceasefire will be concluded next year, Merz replied: "I do not lose hope that we will succeed. But I also have no illusions."

"We are trying to end it as quickly as possible. But, of course, not at the cost of Ukraine's surrender," Merz added.

According to him, the war can be ended tomorrow if Ukraine capitulates, surrenders and loses its independence, however:

"Only then will the next country's turn come the day after tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow it will be our turn. This is not an option," the German Chancellor said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Merz also said that the war of the aggressor country of russia against Ukraine will continue for a long time, since there is currently no scenario of military defeat or economic exhaustion for either side.

Earlier, the German Chancellor said that he was not sure whether russian dictator vladimir putin "will have the determination" to come to a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.