Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Germany's Merz stresses economic pressure to end Russia's war in Ukraine, as diplomacy fails and military actions persist.
BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday he expected that Russia would only stop its war against Ukraine once it could no longer wage it for economic and military reasons, given that diplomatic efforts in recent weeks had failed.
"All efforts of the past weeks have been answered with an even more aggressive approach by this regime in Moscow against the population in Ukraine," Merz said at a regional event of his conservatives in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
"This will also not stop until we ensure together that Russia, at least for economic reasons, and perhaps also for military reasons … can no longer continue this war."
Earlier on Saturday, the chief of Russia's general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, said his troops were waging a non-stop offensive along almost the entire front line in Ukraine and that they had the "strategic initiative".
Russia has also stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front lines this summer.
Efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, now in its fourth year, have so far failed, and Kyiv and its European allies including Germany are calling for tougher economic sanctions on Moscow.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah MarshEditing by Gareth Jones)
Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Russia would only stop its war against Ukraine when it can no longer wage it for economic and military reasons.
Merz noted that all efforts made in recent weeks have been met with an even more aggressive approach from the Russian regime against the Ukrainian population.
Russia has increased airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities, intensifying its offensive along the entire front line.
Efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict have so far failed, with Kyiv and its European allies calling for tougher measures.
General Valery Gerasimov stated that Russian troops are conducting a non-stop offensive along almost the entire front line in Ukraine.
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