German chancellor: Support for Kiev does not mean war against Russia

BERLIN. March 15 (Interfax) - Germany, France, and Poland are determined to ramp up their support for Ukraine, but this does not mean that these countries are in a state of war with Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday.

"We support Ukraine, but we are not in a state of war with Russia [...] We've discussed how we can help Ukraine more," Scholz said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The three leaders agreed to procure weapons for Ukraine on international markets and step up artillery supplies, he said.

"We also want to take advantage of revenue from the Russian assets frozen in the EU by using it to buy weapons to help Ukraine," Scholz said.

Today's meeting between Scholz and Macron was reportedly arranged to show that they were not in conflict over Macron's remarks about the possibility of sending troops from Western countries to fight in Ukraine.