German chancellor candidate Merz compares Trump's statements on Ukraine to what Putin has been saying for years

Iryna Kutielieva, STANISLAV POHORILOV — Friday, 21 February 2025, 14:48

Friedrich Merz, the candidate for German chancellor from the opposition CDU/CSU bloc, has said he was shocked by the statements made by US President Donald Trump regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda citing Tagesschau, a German television news service

Details: Merz described Trump's words as "a classic case of switching the perpetrator with the victim".

Quote: "This is the Russian narrative; this is how Putin has framed it for years, and honestly, I am shocked that Donald Trump has now, apparently, adopted it himself."

More details: Merz stressed the importance of Europeans agreeing on a joint strategy to address the issue "very, very quickly".

Merz believes that pleading for a seat at the negotiating table is the wrong approach.

"Now we must create our own weight," he concluded.

Background:

Following Trump’s statements, several European leaders and individual members of the US Republican Party have spoken out in defence of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On 21 February, the European Commission reaffirmed that it does not question the fact that Russia is the aggressor state.
Trump recently claimed that Ukraine "should not have started the war".

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