Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany must be ready for the situation in Ukraine to escalate, speaking at a conference in Berlin hosted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

He said the 100 billion euro ($102.76 billion) defence fund announced in the wake of Russia's invasion had been the result of a lesson learned to build up the German military's defence stocks. ($1 = 0.9731 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Writing by Rachel More, Editing by Miranda Murray)