BERLIN, November 3 — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Berlin on Tuesday for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in what Merz made clear is intended as a public show of support for the Ukrainian leader a week before US-brokered Russia–Ukraine peace negotiations resume, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters
Announcing the visit at a business conference in Berlin, Merz referred to the dressing-down Zelenskiy received from US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in February 2025, and promised a different reception. “He'll be here with me just after midday, and things will be a bit different then,” Merz said, according to Reuters. The Kyiv Independent, citing the German news channel ZDFheute, reported that Merz announced the visit in a speech at the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Source: The Kyiv Independent via EuropeSays
Zelenskiy's trips abroad are typically kept secret until the last minute for security reasons, and this visit was announced only on the morning of the day it takes place. The Berlin Security Conference also begins on Tuesday, November 3, and Kyiv has not yet commented publicly on the reasons for the visit, The Kyiv Independent reported.
A show of European backing after clashes with Washington
European leaders have backed Zelenskiy as he has clashed with Washington in recent weeks over decisions by Trump to buy Russian diesel, suspend some sanctions and call on Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, Reuters reported. Trump has called for Zelenskiy to be replaced and has said Russia's actions were “fine”, according to the same reporting — the backdrop against which Merz's promise of a warmer welcome in Berlin carries its message.
Germany has become Ukraine's largest supporter in its war with Russia since Trump returned to office last year and withdrew US financial support, Reuters said. Berlin's backing is therefore central to Kyiv's position as it heads into a new round of negotiations in which Washington, not Europe, is the broker.
Abu Dhabi talks a week away
A senior US official told Reuters on Monday that the United States will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 to discuss moves toward ending the war, post-war security agreements and de-escalation. US special envoy Steve Witkoff has said the talks will also cover humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace.
The Abu Dhabi round was announced a day earlier, with the US, Russia and Ukraine set to meet on November 10–11 for the first trilateral talks since February. Read: Witkoff announces Abu Dhabi talks
US negotiators have been seeking a breakthrough before winter in the long-running conflict, Reuters reported. The last US-mediated peace talks took place in February, before the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28 — a war that has since dominated Washington's attention and, Kyiv fears, its air-defence supplies.
The Berlin visit also comes at a moment of renewed Russian attack warnings. On Monday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had intelligence that Russia was preparing a new massive attack on the country's energy and logistics infrastructure, timed, he suggested, for the day of the US midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, when world attention would be elsewhere. Russian strikes on Monday killed at least 26 people at a humanitarian aid distribution point in Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to Ukrainian officials — a toll reported by the BBC and Al Jazeera.
What happens next
Zelenskiy is due to meet Merz just after midday in Berlin on Tuesday. Neither side has published an agenda beyond the talks themselves, and Kyiv has not commented publicly on the visit's purpose. What Berlin says after the meeting — on weapons, air defence and Europe's place in the Abu Dhabi process — will be the first test of whether the show of support also brings new commitments, a week before the November 10–11 talks.