Merz says no plans to send military to Ukraine

Friedrich Merz, a candidate for chancellor of Germany from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU), said on February 23 that the issue of sending the military to Ukraine is not on the agenda at the moment.

"I perceive it in the same way as Chancellor [Olaf Scholz]: this issue does not arise today at all," the Handelsblatt newspaper quoted Merz as saying on ARD and ZDF television channels.

In addition, the candidate for Chancellor of Germany noted that the priority now is to discuss how Europe should support Kiev, as this issue has not been addressed sufficiently.

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German chancellor admits election defeat - what will be the new coalition in the Bundestag

On the same day, Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz said that his party won the February 23 elections, noting that it is now necessary to create a workable coalition as soon as possible.

German TV channel ZDF cited Exit poll data, according to which 29% of voters voted in favor of the CDU/CSU. The Alternative for Germany party (AdG) took second place in the Bundestag elections for the first time in history with 20% of the vote. At the same time, Scholz's SPD won only 16.5% of the electorate's support, which is its worst result ever.