German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for increased financial support for Ukraine as EU leaders convened for a summit in Brussels.

Mr Merz told journalists on Friday that he argued during several smaller meetings that Europe must do everything possible to help Ukraine through the winter and into next year.

“We will also have to increase the funds again here in order to really help Ukraine on a lasting basis,” he said.

While Ukraine’s budget for this year is fully funded, Ukrainian finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said during a September visit to Brussels that the country faced a $32.6 billion shortfall in its regular budget for next year.

The gap in defence spending, meanwhile, stood at $45 billion.

Mr Merz also rejected a proposal to transfer part of the Russian assets frozen in the European Union to the United States for use as leverage in peace negotiation efforts.

The assets, totalling about €210 billion ($235 billion), should remain in Europe, the chancellor said.

“That is our matter, and we decide on it,” he added.

The Financial Times previously reported that the proposal to transfer part of the assets was raised at a meeting of government representatives from the United States, Ukraine and Europe in Miami.

Germany, the United Kingdom and France also participated in the meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the EU summit on Friday. Mr Merz visited Kyiv last week.

“We are seeing an increasingly ruthless wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine,” Mr Merz said in Brussels. And I remain firmly convinced that we are not only defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity but also defending Europe’s political order, which Russia is really putting under pressure in every respect here,” he added.

(dpa/NAN)