Merkel called the Minsk agreements an attempt to "give Ukraine time."

The Minsk agreements were signed in order to "give Ukraine time" to strengthen it. This was stated by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an interview with the Zeit newspaper.

"She (Ukraine) also used this time to become stronger, as you can see today," she said. According to her, the Ukraine of 2014-2015 is "not modern Ukraine."

The ex-chancellor added that even then it was clear that the conflict was only frozen, and "the problem has not been resolved." At the same time, according to her, this treaty gave Ukraine "priceless time."

Merkel also expressed doubt that at that time NATO could provide support to Kyiv in the same volumes as it is now.