'Ball exclusively in Russia's court' on Ukraine, says Germany's Merz

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday said that the "ball is exclusively in Russia's court" when it comes to the next steps in negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.

Speaking during a press conference alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Berlin, Merz said it was up to Russian President Vladimir Putin to "accept the offer to negotiate and agree to a ceasefire."

Merz, who took office last week, travelled to Kiev last weekend together with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, where they called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday.

But with that deadline now passed, it was initially unclear how the European leaders would proceed, having flouted the possibility of imposing further sanctions on Russia to force progress in the three-year-old conflict.

Merz said Germany would push for "the significant tightening of sanctions" in cooperation with European partners if no real progress was made this week.

The Kremlin responded to the ceasefire ultimatum by offering to hold direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey instead, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say he would await Putin in Ankara on Thursday.

"To be honest with you, I admire Volodymyr Zelensky's courage to do this now despite these most difficult circumstances," said Merz.

"But this also shows the seriousness and at the same time the willingness to compromise with which he is prepared to do everything in order to seize the opportunity for a ceasefire and subsequent peace talks in Ukraine."

Forcing Ukraine into further compromise and more concessions was "no longer reasonable," according to the new chancellor.