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“If Ukraine falls, Russia will not stop,” he warns.
Europe is facing a decisive moment over its security and political future, Germany’s chancellor has warned, as the war in Ukraine continues and transatlantic relations show signs of strain.
Speaking in Munich, Friedrich Merz painted a stark picture of the risks ahead if the continent fails to respond collectively.
Historical warnings
Addressing a congress of the Christian Social Union, EFE and Agerpress cites Merz for saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must be understood as more than a regional conflict.
According to the outlets, he described it as a direct threat to Europe’s postwar order.
“We have known this since 2022: this is a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine and against Europe,” Merz said. He argued that Moscow’s ambitions would not end with Kyiv, adding that if Ukraine were defeated, Russia “will not stop.”
Merz explicitly drew a parallel with Nazi Germany’s expansion before World War II. “Just as, in 1938, the Sudetenland was not enough (for Hitler). Putin is not stopping,” he said, urging sceptics to study the Russian president’s speeches and official strategies.
What happened in 1938?
After Hitler took power in Germany, he annexed Sudetenland, a German-speaking border region of Czechoslovakia, in 1938, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
Hitler used the plight of Sudeten Germans to justify expansionism, uniting German-majority areas with the Reich before fully dismantling Czechoslovakia months later.
The next year, in 1939, Nazi-Germany invaded Poland, and the allied nations declared war on Nazi-Germany.
Borders and power
Back to the speech from Merz, the current German leader said the Kremlin was pursuing a broader project to redraw Europe’s map.
In his words, the goal was “the restoration of the former Soviet Union within its old borders,” posing a serious threat to countries once under Moscow’s control.
He compared the current moment to the Munich Agreement of 1938, when concessions failed to prevent further aggression (and Sudetenland was annexed by Nazi-Germany).
Merz said the warning signs were already visible in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
From that perspective, he said, Europe’s foremost priority must be to accept this reality and sustain military and political support for Ukraine, while strengthening unity across the continent, including cooperation with the United Kingdom.
Sources: EFE, Agerpres, Digi24, Politico.eu, Encyclopedia Britannica
