President Volodymyr Zelensky led a government delegation to Berlin, where they met Chancellor Friedrich Merz and key ministers to discuss Ukraine’s war against Russia, now in its fifth year.

Europe’s top economy has become Ukraine’s biggest military backer as the US under President Donald Trump has scaled back support.

But Germany, eager to build up its armed forces to deter Russia, is also looking to tap Kyiv’s expertise in rapidly evolving drone technology.

The two countries pledged to “strengthen cooperation in the air defence field” and Germany said it would “continue supporting Ukraine’s drone industry as well as establishing drone co-production ventures”.

The German defence ministry said it had agreed to fund contracts for several hundred Patriot missiles from US defence giant Raytheon as well as Iris‑T air defence launchers from German manufacturer Diehl.

Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov on X thanked his German counterpart Boris Pistorius for the package, which he said was worth four billion euros, calling it “a massive boost for our air defence… to protect our cities and critical infrastructure”.

Zelensky, in a press conference with Merz, said “we have proposed to Germany a drone agreement, a bilateral drone deal — involving various types of drones, missiles, software and modern defence systems”.

Merz said the partnership “isn’t just beneficial for Ukraine’s defence… It’s also beneficial for us, for our security, because no army in Europe has been as battle-tested in recent decades as Ukraine’s.

“No society has become more resilient than Ukraine, no defence industry has become more innovative than Ukraine’s,” he said.