Russian attacks continue during German chancellor’s solidarity visit to Kyiv

German chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv in a show of support as Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian cities.The aerial war has intensified, with Moscow attacking cities across Ukraine with hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, while Kyiv has been striking Russia’s oil industry and businesses.Merz said he travelled to the Ukrainian capital on his second trip as chancellor to demonstrate his country’s solidarity with Ukraine. He announced ‌military aid for Ukraine worth ​around €1 billion and an energy support package, ⁠as the Ukrainian ‌capital ‌came ​under renewed attack on Sunday from ⁠Russian ​drones.Merz said ⁠his ⁠visit “demonstrates ​that we will not be intimidated. Nor will we be intimidated by a drone ‌attack occurring at ⁠the very time of our visit.”Germany is Ukraine’s largest donor, sending Kyiv more than €43.3 billion since the war began, along with equipment and weapons.“If Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later turn against us,” he said in a statement on Sunday, adding that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy: “You can continue to count on our help.”The chancellor said the partnership between the two countries was “not a one-way street”, pointing to German and Ukrainian companies jointly developing technologies that benefit both sides.“This makes us safer and stronger,” he said.In a post on X, Zelenskiy thanked Germany and said the two countries would make “important agreements” during the visit to strengthen Ukraine’s defences and those of the rest of Europe.“Russia must be stopped together,” he wrote.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and German chancellor Friedrich Merz attend a ceremony at the memorial of fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Dan Bashakov/AP Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Merz would hold talks with Zelenskiy.Writing on X, Sybiha said the agenda would focus on “strengthening Ukraine, our defence and resilience, and our shared European security”.Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it would continue to carry out “mass retaliatory strikes” on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, urging foreign nationals and diplomats to leave the country.It previously issued a similar warning in May.The German and Russian foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders last month. It was believed to be the first such face-to-face meeting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Russia’s Sergey Lavrov rejected German calls to ease off its “dangerous path of escalation” towards Ukraine, and instead accused Germany of being Ukraine’s main sponsor and seeking to be a leading military power in Europe.Police officers inspect the site of a Russian drone strike on the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River in Kyiv. Photograph: Andriy Dubchak/AP Ties between Russia and Germany have soured even more in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack in early September at Leipzig airport.Germany has blamed Russia for the incident and announced the closure of the German consulate in St Petersburg, the latest in a cycle of tit-for-tat moves.Meanwhile, Merz’s power inside Germany has taken a blow after a string of state election defeats last month, including losses to the anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany party.However, he said he intends to remain chancellor.On Sunday morning, Russian attacks continued with a drone hitting Kyiv’s Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River again, Zelenskiy said.Video circulating on social media showed the drone flying into the bridge and the explosion as vehicles crossed.Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were wounded in the attack.The latest strike came after Russian assaults forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges over the Dnipro River earlier this week, suspending traffic and causing tailbacks in Moscow’s latest effort to disrupt life in the Ukrainian capital.Previously, Russia has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, petrol stations and data centres, among other targets.One person was killed and 16 wounded on Sunday in a Russian aerial bomb attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, local officials said.Russia’s ministry of defence said on Sunday it would intensify its strikes “against military and military-industrial facilities, as well as related infrastructure, in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine”. It delivered the warning in response to Zelenskiy’s comments, in an interview with Reuters published on Saturday, that Ukraine would escalate its attacks on Russian oil refineries.Russia invaded its neighbour more than 4½ years ago and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible.Fighting along the roughly 1,250km frontline, snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine, has been virtually deadlocked in recent months. – AP and Reuters