BERLIN, July 9. /TASS/. The diplomatic means for resolving the conflict in Ukraine have been depleted, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.

"Having critically assessed the current situation with the threats, we were able to make the first important decisions," he said while speaking at the German parliament. "We will continue helping Ukraine, even despite the resistance from the political left and the pro-Russian right forces here. We will carry on with this support."

"I want to tell you a bit clearly. Diplomatic tools have been exhausted," Merz added.

Germany is the second largest weapons supplier to Ukraine after the United States. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, it has provided Kiev with support worth around 44 billion euro. The Russian side had repeatedly warned that flooding the Kiev regime with weapons only extends the conflict.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow was still waiting for Kiev to put forward proposed dates for a new round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine held two rounds of talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2. Following the discussions, both parties agreed to carry out a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap, including an exchange of all sick service members and soldiers under the age of 25 - at least 1,000 individuals from each side.