Zelensky in Berlin says hopes war with Russia will end next year

Speaking on Friday while on a visit to Berlin to request further military help, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism that the conflict with Russia will come to an end the following year.

Zelensky has been travelling to London, Paris, and Rome in a frantic two days to gather support as Ukraine endures a harsh third winter at war.

Wearing his signature military uniform, Zelensky greeted visiting Chancellor Olaf Scholz and expressed gratitude to Germany for its support, adding, “It is very important for us that this assistance does not decrease next year.”

He expressed hope that the war would conclude “no later than next year, 2025” and promised to furnish Scholz with his strategy for winning the war.

“Ukraine more than anyone else in the world wants a fair and speedy end to this war,” Zelensky stated. “The war is destroying our country, taking the lives of our people.”

Scholz declared that “we will not let up in our support for Ukraine” and promised that Germany and its EU allies would deliver more defensive hardware this year and four billion euros in aid in Germany by 2025.

Although Scholz acknowledged that Russia must be a part of any peace conference, he said that peace “can only be brought about on the basis of international law” with the Ukrainian leader.

Scholz declared, “We will not accept a peace dictated by Russia.”

Afterwards, Zelensky met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to conclude his tour.

The leader of Ukraine has been requesting further financial and military backing from his European friends because he thinks that support would diminish if Donald Trump is elected US president next month.

Hurricane Milton forced US President Joe Biden to cancel his state visit to Germany, which included a planned discussion on Ukraine defence at the US air station in Ramstein, western Germany.

After the US, Germany has been the main provider of military aid to Ukraine.

Scholz, meanwhile, is afraid that NATO’s tense standoff with a nuclear-armed Russia would worsen, thus he has resisted delivering the German long-range Taurus missile system.