Germany will not provide weapons to Ukraine and supports negotiations and a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday. "It is my firm belief that this conflict cannot be solved militarily," Merkel said after meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest. She said she prefers economic sanctions as decided by the European Union and negotiations to "solve or at least mitigate the conflict." Fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 5,100 lives since April and displaced 900,000 people. Despite a September cease-fire and a period of relative calm in December, the fighting has intensified in recent weeks, AP reported.
