German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv on Sunday as Russia stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities, using his visit to signal that European support for Ukraine remains in place despite the war’s continuing pressure on the region.

The Associated Press reported that strikes hit Sumy and other areas, with casualties reported by Ukrainian officials. A building at Kyiv’s National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture was also damaged, while a separate drone attack on a bridge injured people, according to the report. The incidents were reported as Merz met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the capital.

Merz has presented the war as a question of European security as well as Ukrainian sovereignty. AP reported that Germany has provided more than €43.3 billion in support since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The figure is a measure of Berlin’s commitment, but it does not remove the strategic questions facing the government: how much further military assistance can be provided, how European countries share the burden and what form a durable settlement might take.

Zelenskyy said the two governments discussed defence cooperation, resilience and wider European security. Those discussions come as Kyiv continues to seek additional air-defence capacity and as European governments debate whether their support can be sustained at the current level.

The visit is a political signal, not evidence that the conflict is nearing an end. Russia’s attacks and the damage reported in Ukraine underline the gap between diplomatic support and the conditions on the ground. Berlin can reinforce Kyiv’s position, but it cannot by itself determine whether Moscow changes course.

The immediate test will be whether the commitments discussed in Kyiv become deliverable assistance and whether European unity survives the next phase of the war. For now, Merz’s arrival offers reassurance; the continued attacks show the limits of reassurance without implementation.