German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced more than €1.3 billion in fresh support for Ukraine on Sunday during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, pairing new interceptor-drone financing with energy repairs as Russian strikes again damaged river crossings in the capital.
Package on the table
Standing alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Merz said roughly €1 billion would flow to military assistance, including long-range strike weapons, combat drones and satellite technology so Ukrainian forces can target Russian launch sites. He said Germany would also fund production of interceptor drones designed to counter jet-powered weapons that have stressed air defenses this autumn.
The package includes thousands of missiles for German-made IRIS-T air-defense batteries and additional IRIS-T fire units, according to a joint account of the briefing. Merz framed the drone line as an urgent answer to weapons Zelenskyy said Russia had fired by the hundreds in recent days, with intercept rates still short of what commanders want.
A further €350 million is earmarked for generators, substations and repair work on power infrastructure ahead of winter, Merz said. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche traveled with him, along with executives from German defense and energy firms the government said would deepen joint production with Ukrainian partners.
Visit under fire
Merz reached Kyiv by special train early Sunday in a trip that had not been publicized in advance. Air-raid alerts sounded during his stay, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a Russian attack again damaged the Northern Bridge over the Dnipro, wounding two people. Ukrainian officials have warned that strikes since Thursday have fully or partly closed three of the city’s six road bridges, complicating evacuations and supply runs.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it would intensify strikes on military-industrial sites and related infrastructure in Kyiv and elsewhere. Merz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, but offered no new diplomatic channel beyond support already coordinated with Washington and European capitals.
What Berlin is signaling
Germany has been Ukraine’s largest bilateral donor since the full-scale invasion, with Berlin citing more than €43 billion in cumulative assistance. Sunday’s tranche does not require a new parliamentary vote because it draws on previously approved budget lines, German officials told traveling reporters, but it does accelerate deliveries Merz had promised after taking office.
Zelenskyy said the two governments signed 15 security documents worth more than €8.5 billion, including agreements on joint interceptor production. He repeated that Kyiv is ready for U.S.-backed technical talks with Russia by the end of October, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, while Merz emphasized hardware that could keep Ukraine fighting through another heating season if diplomacy stalls.
For residents in Kyiv, the political choreography matters less than whether the interceptors arrive before the next wave of drones. Merz said deliveries would land in the coming weeks; Ukrainian air-force spokespeople have not yet published a deployment timeline.