The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday as the country struggles to defeat Russia’s invasion, the war, which has now entered its fifth year. Germany is one of Ukraine's biggest supporters.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was also holding talks with his counterpart, Mykhailo Fedorov, the former Ukrainian digital transformation chief who took up his new post in January and is credited with advancing military drone technology.
US-led efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine have recently petered out as the Iran war grips the Trump administration's attention, although Tammy Bruce, the deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Monday that Washington “will continue to push for a negotiated and durable end” to the war.
Western analysts and officials say Ukraine has in recent months recorded battlefield successes against Russia's bigger army, disrupting a spring offensive started by Russia amid improving weather, as fields dry out and new foliage on tree lines offers more cover. Meanwhile, the long-range drones and missiles that Kyiv designs and produces are repeatedly striking oil facilities and manufacturing plants deep inside Russia..
Ukraine “is in a much better place than it has been at any stage in this horrific war,” Finland's President Alexander Stubb said at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday.
On the other hand, Russia also claimed progress on the battlefield. Russia occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine. That includes the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.
Independent verification of each side's claims was not possible.
Ukraine is desperately short of cash and needs a promised 90-billion-euro (USD 106 billion) loan from the European Union. That was being held up by Hungary's Viktor Orban, but his departure as prime minister after weekend elections could free up the sum.
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