"Chancellor Friedrich Merz was asked about the possibility of German soldiers being sent to Ukraine under proposed 'security guarantees - and gave a cryptic reply - as he spoke in the Bundestag on Wednesday, ahead of the European Council Summit. "Do you want to send German soldiers to Ukraine as part of the security guarantees? This can be answered with a yes or no, just a little hint," he was asked. "Thank you for the 'hint'," Merz responded. "There are questions in this world that are not as easy to answer as you might imagine. And this question is one of them." "We are talking about security guarantees for Ukraine after a ceasefire that must be agreed upon with Russia. I add, as long as I have a say, we will not repeat the mistakes of 2014 to see Ukraine exposed to Russia's reach without security guarantees again," he continued. The US and Ukrainian sides held talks in Berlin at the start of the week, and with European leaders on Monday night. A joint statement from the Europeans said they had agreed to a 'multinational force' for Ukraine after any peace deal - although it was not clear who would be involved or what the remit might be. Merz also claimed the US had agreed to as yet unspecified 'Article-5-like' guarantees. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky earlier suggested he would drop his country's bid to join NATO. US President Donald Trump said "we are closer now than we have been ever" to a ceasefire. Moscow said it was yet to receive the 'revised' proposals, with further talks expected between the US and Ukrainian sides in Florida this weekend."