Finance Minister Christian Lindner

said Germany pledged €1 billion in grants to Ukraine at a G7 meeting to help it with short-term liquidity needs, adding that the finance ministers and central bankers had also discussed inflation. The EU must set up a solidarity fund to help rebuild Ukraine after the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, addressing parliament ahead of an EU meeting.

• Looking ahead: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to the Western Balkans, bearing the message that the region belongs in the EU. Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have made long-term reforms in the hopes of EU accession, Scholz said, adding it was also in the EU’s strategic interest to facilitate their integration.