"Looking towards Munich and the security conference, I haven't had any concrete indications that a decisive step could be on the horizon" towards peace talks, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told a press conference.

In recent weeks, mounting comments from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv have suggested the possibility of negotiations that could end the nearly three-year-old Russian invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet with US Vice President JD Vance on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich gathering, which is expected to be dominated by the Ukraine war.

Hebestreit reiterated Germany's position that "nothing must be decided over Ukrainians' heads, they must decide how they enter talks with the Russian side".

"The easiest way" to end the war "would be for the Russian president to withdraw his troops and break off this campaign which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of dead and injured and led to unbelievable destruction and suffering", Hebestreit said.

Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also dampened hopes of a comprehensive peace plan emerging from the Munich conference.

"There is no such glimmer of hope on the horizon," he told the Table.Briefings portal on Wednesday.

But he said he was "convinced that we will see movement in this awful war this year".

The end goal of any negotiations, Pistorius said, has to be "a secure and sovereign Ukraine".