Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
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Germany's FM urges tougher sanctions on Russia after Ukraine attacks, while expressing concern over the Gaza conflict and advocating for a two-state solution.
BERLIN (Reuters) -Russia's latest wave of attacks on Ukraine should be answered with additional Western sanctions, Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not interested in peace, he wants to continue this war, and we must not allow this, which is why the European Union will agree additional sanctions," he said in a live interview on ARD's Bericht aus Berlin.
Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including at the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.
Wadephul added that the United States was also able to launch new sanctions packages, and he hoped that the weight of the measures would get Putin to the negotiating table, to avoid what he called potentially severe consequences for Russia's economy and energy sectors.
Moving on to Israel's military offensive in Gaza, Wadephul said Germany was deeply concerned about the "unbearable" human suffering, where he said he was in touch with Israeli, Middle Eastern and European peers, to seek to broker solutions.
"Germany has a clear position: no expulsions (of the Palestinian population) from the Gaza Strip, an end to hunger. And the Strip as well as the West Bank belong to the Palestinians, on the way to a two-state solution," he said.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a local journalist and a senior rescue service official, local health authorities said.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Vera Eckert; Editing by Hugh Lawson and David Holmes)
Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated that additional Western sanctions are needed in response to Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine.
Russian forces launched a significant barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities, resulting in at least 12 fatalities.
Germany expressed deep concern over the human suffering in Gaza and emphasized the need for no expulsions of the Palestinian population and an end to hunger.
Israeli military strikes reportedly killed at least 23 Palestinians, including a local journalist and a senior rescue service official.
Germany hopes that the weight of new sanctions will compel Russian President Putin to negotiate and seek peace in Ukraine.
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