Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she had used all means to prevent the current conflict in Ukraine. "The fact that it failed is not proof that it was wrong to try," she said in an interview with Die Zeit.
In December 2022, the former German chancellor called the Minsk agreements an attempt to give Ukraine time to "become stronger" She noted that today's Ukraine militarily is "not what it was in 2014-2015," adding that diplomacy is a necessity. The Kremlin noted that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, former German ChancellorAngela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande confirmed that for their countries theMinsk agreements were a screen for preparing for a military scenario in the Donbass.