Germany's conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Monday visited war-torn Ukraine, where he was expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Merz, who is leading in opinion polls ahead of Germann elections in February, visited Kyiv one week after centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz went there.
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Both men have pledged strong and sustained support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Merz has argued in the past that Berlin should send more powerful weaponry.
He has urged Scholz to send Ukraine the long-range Taurus missile system, which could fire deep into Russian territory -- something Scholz has refused to do for fear of escalating the conflict.
Merz, arriving by train from Poland in the morning, said he wanted to find out what Germany could do to "help this battered country to continue to defend itself against Russian aggression".
Writing on X, he said that "the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible. Only if Ukraine can defend itself will Putin enter into negotiations".
Almost three years of war have ravaged Ukraine, killing tens of thousands of people and leading millions to flee the country.
Zelensky on Sunday said Kyiv needed an "enduring" peace to protect it from Russia, after talks in Paris with US president-elect Donald Trump, who said he would "probably" reduce aid to Ukraine.
Trump has boasted he could end the conflict swiftly, without saying how. Moscow and Kyiv are readying for his arrival in the White House, with an escalation in deadly attacks in recent weeks in the drawn-out conflict.
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