Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a package of weaponry for Ukraine as well as aid for the country’s energy sector worth about €1.35 billion ($1.5 billion) during a visit to Kyiv Sunday that coincided with Russia’s latest attack on the capital.

The German leader, who traveled to Kyiv by train a day after the Kremlin warned foreign diplomats there were in “mortal danger,” said the assistance would include long-range weapons, combat drones, and satellite technology. His government is also providing €350 million for repairs to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has been repeatedly targeted by Russian forces.

“I traveled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks,” said Merz, who also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack the Western alliance unless he’s thwarted.

“If Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later be turned against us,” Merz said. He held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and they visited the National Academy of Sciences, the site of a deadly Russian drone attack last week, where their visit was interrupted by an air-raid alert.

“It is important that at this difficult time, Germany is standing with us,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media. The two nations had agreed on defense orders for German industry and joint projects, including for production of anti-jet drones, worth more than €8.5 billion, he said.

Now well into its fifth year, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has intensified in recent weeks, with both sides targeting energy infrastructure as winter approaches and Kremlin forces increasingly turning to targets such as bridges and data centers.

Ukraine said on Friday it attacked one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries and a key hub in the country’s crude-pipeline network. Russian forces later hit a major bridge in Kyiv and a logistics center near the capital, in the latest series of drone attacks on civilian infrastructure. On Sunday, it struck the Pivnichnyi, or Northern, bridge across the Dnipro River in Kyiv for a second time.

“I can only repeat myself: Mr. Putin, stop this senseless war,” Merz told reporters. “We can talk, but only when the guns fall silent.”

Merz was joined on his trip to Ukraine’s capital by his economy minister, Katherina Reiche, and executives from 10 defense and energy companies. Firms represented included Siemens Energy AG, Hensoldt AG, Helsing GmbH and ARX Robotics GmbH.

“Our partnership isn’t a one-way street,” Merz said. “German and Ukrainian companies are jointly developing technologies that benefit both countries. This makes us safer and stronger.”

Germany has provided more than €50 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the Kiel Institute, the second highest after the US with €115 billion.

“Germany’s security, too, depends on the outcome of this war,” Merz said. “That is why we are helping out of our own vital interest as well.”

It’s Merz’s second visit to Kyiv as chancellor. He traveled there with France’s president and the British and Polish prime ministers shortly after taking office in May 2025.

(Updates with details of aid package starting in first paragraph.)

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