German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz suggested on Monday the 27th that Ukraine may have to accept that parts of its territory could remain outside Kiev’s control in a future peace agreement with Russia, linking these concessions to the country’s prospects for joining the European Union.
“At some point, Ukraine will sign a ceasefire agreement; at some point, we hope, a peace treaty with Russia. Then it may be that part of Ukraine’s territory is no longer Ukrainian,” Merz told students at the Carolus-Magnus-Gymnasium, according to Reuters.
At the same event, according to Associated PressMerz criticized the United States for entering the war against Iran without any strategy, saying this also makes it difficult to end the conflict. “The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: it’s not just about getting in; you also have to get out. We saw this too painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” he emphasized.
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A lack of U.S. strategy and the fact that the Iranians are stronger than previously thought have made it difficult to end the conflict now, he said, according to the AP.
“Especially because the Iranians are very skillfully negotiating – or rather, very skillfully not negotiating,” he added. “And then they let the Americans travel to Islamabad, only to send them back without any results. An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
Germany has offered to send minesweeper ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting ends.
