Germany's Merz pledges €1bn in military aid to Ukraine during Kyiv visit

German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday during a visit to Kyiv that his country would not be intimidated into dropping its support for Ukraine, announcing €1bn in new military aid. Merz said Germany would help fund joint production of drones built to intercept Russia's jet-powered drones, noting that recent technical breakthroughs were accelerating the effort.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Merz also pledged €350m toward repairing Ukraine's energy sector. German officials said business executives accompanying the chancellor signed 14 agreements with Ukraine worth roughly €6.6bn, including a deal with Diehl Defence for IRIS-T air defence missiles, an agreement with Hensoldt for radar systems, and a contract with Quantum Systems for jet-drone interceptors.

Attacks continue during visit

Air raid sirens and explosions sounded repeatedly across Kyiv during the chancellor's trip. A Russian drone struck the capital's Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River — the fourth consecutive day Russia has targeted bridges used by tens of thousands of commuters crossing between the city's two banks. Later on Sunday, a Russian strike hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killing one person and injuring six others, according to mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Merz said Germany's support was not solely about defending Ukraine's territorial integrity but was also a matter of European security, pointing to Russian cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns targeting European democracies.

Zelenskyy said he believed Russia may have shared its latest jet-drone technology with North Korea, which earlier in the war supplied Russia with artillery shells and later ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military again delivered food and medicine by drone to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, with the latest shipment totalling nearly four tonnes. Zelenskyy also said the US wants to hold a new round of peace talks involving Ukraine and Russia by the end of October, while India said it was seeking a bigger role in mediating an end to the war.