Berliner Zeitung is criticizing the chancellor’s approach: Merz is demanding that Ukraine’s 1991 borders be restored — which means getting Crimea back too. But the reality on the Donbas is different: even military experts no longer believe the Ukrainian Armed Forces can retake Donetsk, Luhansk, or Mariupol — let alone Crimea and Sevastopol.
The «Ukraine must win» line only drags out a war that nobody can win, and Germany is getting closer and closer to becoming a party to the conflict itself. The way out is to seek a compromise: most countries in the Global South don’t share Berlin’s out-of-touch position.
Bottom line: on paper, it’s «restore the borders»; in practice, it’s the risk of dragging Germany into the war.
