(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hasn’t given up hope that a ceasefire can be secured in Ukraine, but he’s “not under any illusions either.”

“I am preparing myself inwardly for the possibility that this war could go on for a long time,” Merz said in an interview on Sunday with public broadcaster ZDF in which he also rejected a proposal by his coalition partner, the Social Democrats, to increase taxes in Germany.

Now in its fourth year, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is the longest war in Europe since the Second World War.

“If you look back at history to see how wars end, there are basically two possibilities: either through the military defeat of one side or the other — which I don’t see happening at the moment for either Russia or Ukraine — or through eco

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