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Germany will not be intimidated into dropping its support for Ukraine, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday as he announced a further €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in military aid during a visit to Kyiv marked by Russian drone attacks, Reuters reported.
Air-raid sirens and explosions rang out repeatedly across the Ukrainian capital as Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited a memorial to soldiers killed during the four-year-old war, as well as the Academy of Sciences, where at least two people died in a drone strike last week.
Russia has escalated its drone attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks, targeting telecoms, electricity and transport infrastructure as well as military assets.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Zelenskiy, Merz said Moscow was trying to break the morale of the Ukrainian people, and announced €350 million for repairs in the energy sector. He said Germany remained Ukraine's strongest backer.
"We do this not only to protect Ukraine's territorial integrity; we do it deeply in our own interest, for it is a matter of Europe's security," Merz said, noting that Russia was carrying out cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns that struck at Europe's democratic order.
"This demonstrates that we will not be intimidated," he said.
Russia has said accusations of hybrid warfare are baseless and the result of anti-Russian hysteria.
German officials said executives from companies, who travelled with Merz, had signed 14 agreements with the Ukrainian government and businesses worth roughly €6.6 billion.
Among those deals, Ukraine inked an agreement with Germany's Diehl Defense for the supply of IRIS-T air defense missiles, as well as a deal for radar equipment with Hensoldt and for jet drone interceptors with Quantum Systems.
"What is important in this visit is that not only Germany is helping Ukraine, but Ukraine is sharing its knowledge, experience, as well as orders," Zelenskiy said. "These are jobs for Germany."
Zelenskiy praised a new jet drone interceptor, dubbed SPYS and developed by Quantum, for showing promising results. He said Ukraine and Germany were close to finalizing a broad defense deal, which he has previously said would include the production of drones, missiles and related software.