As Russia and Ukraine race to expand their arsenals to sustain a war now stretching into its fourth summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine traveled to Germany on Wednesday in hopes of securing more assistance from Europe’s industrial powerhouse.
Mr. Zelensky’s visit will be his third meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany in as many weeks. That underscores efforts by Mr. Merz to reestablish German leadership among European allies in the face of weakening U.S. commitments to NATO, and the importance his country will play in sustaining the Ukrainian war effort.
Before traveling to Germany, Mr. Zelensky said that securing financing to expand Ukraine’s domestic arms production will be a central goal.
“We need financial support,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday. “That’s the biggest issue — not technology limits or lack of long-range weapons. It’s about money.”
In his Tuesday evening address to the nation, Mr. Zelensky listed the equipment his country needed: “Attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic systems — these are the key elements. We must manufacture all of them.”
After years traveling the world in search of weapons to help his nation battle a far larger enemy, Mr. Zelensky said Kyiv now needed some $30 billion in annual financing to fund its domestic arms production at full capacity.
With neither side able to achieve major breakthroughs on the front for more than two years and Russia once again on the offensive, the arms race takes on ever greater importance, said Seth G. Jones, a former Defense Department official who closely tracks the war.
“In wars of attrition, victory has frequently gone to the side with the more productive defense industrial base,” he said.
The industrial dimension of the war, Mr. Jones noted, is also to a great extent a proxy war.
“On one side is the Ukrainian defense industrial base, with aid from Europe and the United States,” he said. “On the other side is the Russian industrial base, with aid from China, Iran and North Korea.”
A key variable in the year ahead, he said, will be whether both sides can maintain their foreign industrial assistance.
With the Trump administration so far unwilling to approve new military assistance for Ukraine and European allies struggling to fill the void, expanding sanctions, Mr. Zelensky said Tuesday, is “a crucial step” in slowing Russian forces down.
“Failure to impose sanctions boosts morale in the Kremlin,” he said. “It will reflect on the battlefield, as they’re emotionally inspired by words.”
Still, he insisted that Moscow cannot afford to wage war indefinitely.
“Multiple intelligence analyses agree: We all hope that by June 2026, the war will be over,” he said. “But even now, sanctions are affecting the Russian economy.”
Mr. Merz has supported expanded sanctions to force President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to agree to a cease-fire.
“In Ukraine, nothing less than the peace order of our entire continent is at stake,” Mr. Merz told lawmakers in his first speech before Parliament after assuming office this month. “In this historic moment of decision, Europe must stand together more closely than ever before.”
At the moment, Russia’s military industrial complex continues to expand, and the Kremlin is able to replenish its forces at a far faster rate than Ukraine.
In recent months, Mr. Zelensky said, Russia has been able to recruit 40,000 to 50,000 new soldiers, while Ukraine is mobilizing 25,000 to 27,000.
The White House has so far resisted taking any steps to pressure Moscow, maintaining that it would undermine diplomacy. After Russia’s most recent bombardments — some of the largest of the war — President Trump lashed out at Mr. Putin, saying he had gone “crazy.”
Mr. Trump expressed renewed frustration with the Russian leader on Tuesday, writing on social media that “if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia.”
Still, Mr. Trump gave no indication of what steps he was willing to take to pressure the Kremlin and has made it clear that he expects Europe to take the lead in supporting Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky will meet with Mr. Merz and the two are expected to hold a joint news conference in the afternoon. Later, the Ukrainian leader is expected to have talks with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Mr. Merz’s warm embrace of Mr. Zelensky stands in stark contrast to the initially cool relationship that Olaf Scholz, the previous German chancellor, had with the Ukrainian leader. Mr. Scholz did not visit Ukraine until a year after Russia invaded. But just three days after being sworn in this month, Mr. Merz traveled to Ukraine.
While both Russian and Ukraine are ramping up arms production, they are also locked in a ferocious campaign to degrade each other’s military industrial complex through both overt and covert actions.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Wednesday that it had shot down nearly 300 Ukrainian drones in an overnight attack aimed at military-industrial targets. The Ukrainian Air Force said the latest Russian bombardment before dawn on Wednesday featured 88 drones, five ballistic missiles and a cruise missile.
Mr. Zelensky said that even as Kyiv stands ready to continue negotiations in almost any format, the only way to achieve peace is to raise the cost of war for the Kremlin.
Mr. Zelensky told the reporters Tuesday that he remained ready for a direct meeting with Mr. Putin, or a meeting with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump. “If Putin only wants a tri-party format, that’s fine too. I see no problem with formats; the key is substance.”
Christopher F. Schuetze is a reporter for The Times based in Berlin, covering politics, society and culture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.
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