Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a visit to Berlin, met with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor.

Friedrich Merz stated during the meeting that his country is ready to support Ukraine in the production of long-range missiles to counter Russian attacks.

Volodymyr Zelensky also expressed readiness for peace talks and welcomed a trilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, saying he is also prepared to meet each of them separately.

Friedrich Merz added: “We will continue our military support and even increase it, so that Ukraine can continue to defend itself against this Russian aggression – now and in the future. And I want to stress something new in this context. We are financing a considerable part of the Starlink coverage of the country. And our defense ministers are going to sign a memorandum of understanding on the procurement of long range weapon systems produced by Ukraine – so-called long range fires.”

Zelensky reiterated that he is willing to hold individual talks with both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian president said: “We have discussed in detail the diplomatic possibilities, today's situation regarding (peace) talks. The world has been waiting for more than a week for the Russians to finish their so-called memorandum, what they need to stop the killing of people. Everyone is waiting. So far, they have not come up with anything new and are simply injecting their old ultimatums back into the information space. Ukraine believes that there should be no preconditions for a ceasefire."

This is the first official meeting between the Ukrainian and German leaders since Merz came to power in Germany.

Germany is considered the second-largest military aid provider to Ukraine after the United States.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has discussed with his American counterpart Marco Rubio the preparation of specific proposals for a new round of direct talks with Ukraine.