The surprise visit comes a day after Pistorius met with his counterparts from France, the UK, Italy and Poland to discuss coordinating their defence plans and assistance for Ukraine.
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00:00German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kiev on Tuesday on an unannounced visit.
00:09He said his visit aims to underscore strong support for Ukraine from European NATO members
00:14ahead of the start of US President-elect Donald Trump's term next week.
00:18His visit comes a day after he met with his counterparts from France, the UK, Italy and
00:35Poland near Warsaw to discuss coordinated efforts in defense spending.
00:41Trump has criticized the cost of the war for US taxpayers and vowed to bring the conflict
00:46to a swift end.
00:49He also made it clear that he wants to shift more of the Ukraine burden onto Europe, calling
00:54on NATO members to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
01:00While Pistorius stressed Germany's commitment to Ukraine, he also said 5 percent was an
01:04unrealistic target.