Germany's Baerbock calls for more support for Kiev against Russia

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday said she supports providing Kiev with further air defence supplies in its war against Russia, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky due to arrive in Berlin.

At a meting with her Slovakian counterpart Juraj Blanár in the German capital, Baerbock said Russian President Vladimir Putin is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, with the aim of leaving civilians facing another freezing winter without power.

The foreign minister said two-thirds of Ukrainian energy facilities have been destroyed during the conflict, which has now lasted more than two and a half years.

It is thus crucial to provide Ukraine with air defence supplies, Baerbock said.

Ukraine is "ready for a just peace," she argued, but its allies cannot leave Kiev "at the mercy of Russia's war of aggression."