“Just as the Sudetenland was not enough in 1938, Putin will not stop,” Merz told a party conference in Germany.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler in a speech Saturday evening, warning that the Kremlin leader’s ambitions won’t stop with Ukraine.
“Just as the Sudetenland was not enough in 1938, Putin will not stop,” Merz said, referring to a part of Czechoslovakia that the Allies ceded to the Nazi leader with an agreement. Hitler continued his expansion into Europe after that.
“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop there,” Merz said, referring to Putin. “This is a Russian aggressive war against Ukraine — and against Europe.”
Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders,” the German chancellor warned.
Merz, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has pushed European efforts to support Kyiv. German, British and French officials are reportedly discussing this weekend proposals to end the war in Ukraine, ahead of a meeting on Monday that’s to include the leaders.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is also expected to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will be received by Merz in Berlin on Monday.
A U.S.-backed 20-point peace plan is in the works, which includes territorial concessions on Ukraine’s part. Under one proposal being discussed, the Donbas region would be made into a free-trade zone were American companies can freely operate.
Merz was speaking at a party conference of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, which is closely aligned with his own party, the Christian Democrats.