German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday that it was clear that Moscow would not win in Ukraine, almost a year after it's invasion, and assured the administration in Kyiv that its future was in the EU.
"(President Vladimir) Putin will not achieve his goals -- not on the battlefield and not through a dictated peace. That much, at least, is certain after a year of war," Scholz said in a speech at the Bundestag, the German parliament.
"Ukraine belongs to Europe, its future lies in the European Union. And this promise holds true," Scholz said on the eve of an upcoming meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
The chancellor said Germany had provided 12 billion Euros ($12.9 billion) of aid to Ukraine in 2022 and would continue to offer support in 2023.
However, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Britain to an offer of training for Ukrainian fighter jet pilots and marines, Scholz said he would not engage in a "competition" to support Kyiv.
Scholz has repeatedly stressed that his country would not "go it alone" to provide weapons for Ukraine without the support of its allies, especially the US.
Germany last month agreed to provide the powerful Leopard 2 battle tanks for Kyiv after weeks of intense pressure, but only as the US agreed to send its M1 Abrams tanks.
"Cohesion within our alliances is our most valuable asset," Scholz said.
"What harms our unity, on the other hand, is a public competition to outdo each other along the lines of battle tanks, submarines, aircraft," he said.
"Because any dissonance, any speculation about possible differences of interest, only benefits Putin and his propaganda" Scholz added.