Germany's Foreign Minister visited Ukraine on Monday in a symbolic display of support but offered no concrete assurances as the war-battered country sounds the alarm over diminishing foreign aid and a buckling front line.
Kyiv is urging its allies to respond to the Kremlin's deployment of North Korean troops to western Russia and has appealed for permission to use long-range weapons deep inside Russian territory.
Berlin's most senior diplomat, Annalena Baerbock voiced "rock-solid" support but gave no reassurances that Kyiv's allies would respond to Russia's rapid advances or Ukraine's requests for help.
"Right here, right now. We stand firmly by your side as long as you need us," she said on her eighth trip to Ukraine during a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga.
Baerbock's visit comes at a critical moment in the nearly three-year war as Ukrainian defences buckle under Russian pressure and ahead of US elections that could prove decisive for further military aid from Ukraine's most powerful ally.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised the West for its muted response so far to reports of the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops coming to bolster Russia's war effort in Ukraine, a major escalation in the conflict.
"We call on Europe to realise that North Korean troops are now waging an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state. This proves once again that while the West is afraid of and hesitates, Russia is acting and going for escalation," Sybiga said.
- N.Korea FM meets Putin -
Baerbock acknowledged that Moscow was "seeking military assistance" from Pyongyang, decried Russia's "harsh" attacks in eastern Ukraine and called on Ukraine's allies to provide more air defence systems.
Germany is Ukraine's second-largest backer after the United States and has pledged 170 million euros ($185 million) in emergency aid to help the country get through the winter.
Ukraine has long been asking Germany for long-range Taurus missiles but Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to do so due to fears of escalating and widening the conflict.
Scholz has also rejected Ukraine's request to immediately be invited into NATO, made by Zelensky when he recently presented his "Victory Plan" to Western allies.
Zelensky told journalists last month that Berlin was "afraid" to allow Ukraine to integrate with the US-led defence alliance more closely because it feared how Russia might respond.
Baerbock's visit coincided with a meeting in Moscow between Putin and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. The Kremlin released images showing the two shaking hands ahead of talks.
- North Koreans 'will die' -
Ukrainian forces in August launched a surprise offensive into Russia's western Kursk region and Kyiv on Monday said that Pyongyang's forces were already under fire in the border territory.
"They, like the Russian army, pose a threat to Ukraine. They are present there and, of course, they will die," Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff wrote on social media.
Ukrainian forces are, however, reportedly losing ground in Kursk and Russian troops are rapidly advancing in the industrial Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed in late 2022 was part of Russia.
Moscow advanced 610 square kilometes in October alone, according to an AFP analysis of data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Baerbock's arrival was announced hours after 13 people, including four police officers, were wounded in another night of Russian attacks on Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv.
Kyiv said it had downed 50 Iranian-designed Russian drones in nine regions overnight, including over the capital Kyiv. Zelensky later said that Russia was using around 10 times more drones compared to the same period last year.
By Stanislav Doshchitsyn With Barbara Wojazer