German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, has said he sees little chance that the war in Ukraine will end swiftly through diplomatic negotiations.
Stating his views to the newspapers of the “Rheinpfalz” and the “Neuen Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft” (NBR), he warned that the conflict will only be finished when one side is exhausted-either militarily or economically. “Reason and humanitarian arguments will not persuade Putin” he added, calling this the “bitter truth”.
He argued that the aim of European efforts should be to make it impossible for the Russian state to continue the war both militarily and financially. Merz described the current situation in Russia as “a state of deepest barbarity” a condition he says will not change in the foreseeable future, and that “we must accept that”.
According to him, the so‑called “Russian power clique” cannot survive without war for the foreseeable future. “They have to keep the war machine running because they have no plan for what to do with the hundreds of thousands-some severely traumatized-soldiers returning from the front”.
