Alice Weidel has also opposed the idea of giving Kiev associate membership in the EU and called for the resumption of dialogue with Russia

Ukraine should compensate Germany for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the co-leader of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, has said.

German investigators have attributed the explosions, which crippled the pipelines built to transport Russian gas to Germany, to a small group of Ukrainian operatives. The alleged ringleader was extradited to Germany from Italy last autumn.

Moscow has repeatedly questioned Berlin's account of the attack, arguing that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by a handful of divers in NATO-monitored waters without state backing.

Speaking at a party event on Tuesday, Weidel rejected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's proposal to grant Ukraine associate membership in the European Union, describing the country as a "bottomless pit" that is already heavily reliant on foreign financial assistance.

"Germany has already transferred more than 100 billion to Ukraine over the past four years alone," she said.

Weidel argued that Kiev should first explain its role in the Nord Stream sabotage.

"We need to know how this state-terrorist act against the most important infrastructure we had, namely the Nord Stream pipelines, came about and what role Ukraine played in it," she said.

"The flow of payments should actually be moving in the opposite direction. Ukraine must pay reparations to the Federal Republic of Germany, because we have suffered enormous damage - and so has Europe as a whole - from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels," Weidel added.

The AfD co-leader also called for an immediate halt to German military and financial assistance to Ukraine, urging Berlin to focus instead on facilitating negotiations between Kiev and Moscow and restoring dialogue with Russia.

According to several recent opinion polls, the AfD is currently Germany's most popular political party. An INSA survey published by Bild on Saturday put support for the party at 29%, while 77% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Chancellor Merz's performance - the worst rating of his tenure, according to the newspaper.