German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he "cannot imagine" a planned trilateral summit between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin going ahead unless a ceasefire in Ukraine is first secured. Speaking in Washington, Merz urged Western partners to keep up pressure on Moscow and suggested a halt in hostilities is a precondition for meaningful peace negotiations. Merz’s stance coincides with an emerging debate in Berlin over whether Germany should contribute troops to a prospective European peacekeeping force that could monitor any post-war settlement. Although the chancellor has expressed conditional openness, he stressed that any deployment would have to be coordinated with allies and approved by the Bundestag. The idea is proving contentious at home. A Forsa survey for RTL/ntv found Germans almost evenly split, with 49 percent in favour and 45 percent against sending Bundeswehr soldiers. The centre-left Social Democratic Party, part of Merz’s coalition, warns the move would be ‘overwhelming’, while the far-right Alternative for Germany calls the proposal dangerous ‘war-mongering’. Skepticism is heightened by memories of Germany’s militaristic past and the army’s recent struggles in Afghanistan and Mali. France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Keir Starmer, by contrast, have publicly backed the concept of European troops in a future peacekeeping mission.