Zelenskyy holds talks with Merz in Berlin on air defence and energy support, a week before Abu Dhabi peace talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, with air defence, energy support and diplomatic coordination ahead of next week’s US-mediated talks at the top of the agenda.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Berlin on Tuesday for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a week before US-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations are due to resume. Zelenskyy was welcomed with military honours at the Federal Chancellery, where the official welcoming ceremony began at around 12:30 local time, followed by face-to-face talks, a meeting of the two countries’ delegations over a working lunch, and a joint press conference scheduled for 14:00.
The Ukrainian leader said the priorities of the day’s talks were diplomatic coordination ahead of important meetings, strengthening Ukraine’s air defence and supporting its energy sector. “Most importantly — our diplomatic coordination: important meetings ahead, strengthening air defence, and supporting our energy sector. This exact set of priorities will frame today’s negotiations,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday, as he also thanked Germany for its readiness to support Ukraine.
The visit had not been announced in advance, as Zelenskyy’s trips abroad are typically kept secret until the last minute for security reasons. Merz disclosed it himself during a speech to business leaders in Berlin, saying Zelenskyy would be with him just after midday and that things would be a bit different from the Ukrainian president’s trip to the White House last year — an apparent reference to the dressing-down Zelenskyy received from US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in February 2025.
Beyond Merz, Zelenskyy’s programme in Berlin included meetings with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, as well as participation in this year’s Berlin Security Conference, which begins on 3 November. The breadth of the programme underlined that the visit was about more than a single bilateral meeting: it was also a show of European political support at a moment when the diplomatic calendar is crowded.
Germany has become Ukraine’s largest supporter in its war with Russia since Trump returned to office last year and withdrew US financial support, according to Reuters, and under Merz it has pledged to maintain backing for Kyiv and strengthen European security cooperation. German media have reported that Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and its coalition partner, the Social Democrats, are planning to allocate an additional €200 million for winter aid, a figure that, if confirmed, would speak directly to the energy pressures Zelenskyy raised in Berlin.
Those pressures are acute. Russia has continued to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Zelenskyy and Merz have previously discussed Russian strikes on energy facilities, the prospects for an energy truce, and preparations for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” — the group of countries coordinating further support for Kyiv — which Germany, together with France and the United Kingdom, plans to host in Berlin this winter, with a further meeting expected in mid-November.
The Berlin talks also come against a grim backdrop at home. On Tuesday, Ukraine reported a fresh wave of overnight Russian strikes a day after bombs on a humanitarian aid distribution point in the Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 29 people, with 48 still missing, and a hospital in Kharkiv was hit, wounding scores of people. That context helps explain why air defence and energy were placed at the top of the Berlin agenda, rather than treated as routine items.
Diplomatically, the visit sits between two larger set-pieces. US envoy Steve Witkoff has announced that Washington will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on 10–11 November, focused on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian steps, and the US team is also due to meet representatives from France, Germany, the UK, the EU and NATO in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, among other subjects.
What Berlin can deliver in the short term is therefore likely to be measured in practical support rather than in peace terms. Decisions on further German financial support, additional air-defence deliveries and winter energy aid would matter immediately for Ukraine’s ability to get through the coming months, even if the wider question of a negotiated settlement remains with the Abu Dhabi process.
What happens next will become clearer from the joint press conference and from any announcements that follow the delegation talks and the meetings with Steinmeier and Klöckner. If Berlin produces concrete pledges on air defence and energy, it will strengthen Kyiv’s hand going into Abu Dhabi; if it produces only general expressions of support, attention will shift quickly to whether the Abu Dhabi round itself can move beyond the working-level discussions already announced.
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