Future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the conflict between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House could have been deliberately provoked by the US, Bild reports.

“In my opinion, at this meeting in the Oval Office there was not a spontaneous reaction to Zelensky's words, but obviously a provoked escalation. I was somewhat surprised by the tone of the conversation - it was not helpful,” Merz said.

According to him, such rhetoric fits into the general line of behavior of the new US administration in recent months.

“There is a certain continuity in what we have just witnessed in Washington in the series of events of the past few weeks, including the appearance of the US delegation in Munich at the security conference,” he added.