Despite a “surprisingly high consensus” in the assessment of the Ukraine war, there are still apparent differences between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and US President Donald Trump.
Merz stated on Saturday, after arriving in Kyiv, to Bild about Trump’s demand for early elections in Ukraine: “The Ukrainian constitution provides that elections cannot take place during times of war. I think we all have to respect that. President Zelensky is the legitimate, elected president of this country and he is our interlocutor.”
Merz had previously traveled to the Ukrainian capital by a special train with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined them.
The Chancellor also supports the intention of several EU countries to establish a special tribunal for members of the Russian leadership due to the war against Ukraine: “That is of course natural. Russia is committing serious war crimes under Putin’s responsibility. And of course, these war crimes must eventually be punished. And for that, there are international institutions that can do it – and as the foreign ministers rightly pointed out yesterday – must do it.”
The US had withdrawn from the process of preparing the tribunal and was therefore not represented at the foreign minister meeting on Friday in Lviv, Ukraine.