#Differences #Scholz #Macron #Ukraine #turn #open #quarrel
“We will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war,” Macron told reporters. He did not rule out the possibility that ground troops could be sent to Ukraine. “Everything is possible,” Macron said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke very differently even before leaving for the summit in Paris, warning of the possible dangers of a Russian reaction if his country sent German-made Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine.
“We cannot be tied to the goals that this system could achieve,” Scholz told reporters in Berlin. “It amazes me that some people don’t even care about it, that they don’t even think about whether what we’re doing could lead to some kind of involvement in war,” he said.
Germany is not the only one that does not want to provoke Moscow too much. Since the start of the war, US President Joe Biden’s administration has also been balancing giving Ukraine the weapons it needs to defend itself, but not enough to draw the US into a war with Russia, according to Politico.
The leaders of some NATO countries distanced themselves from E. Macron’s comments and claimed that they do not intend to send troops to Ukraine.
But the German fear of a conflict with Russia is particularly deep-rooted. This is largely due to history, and there is an element of historical guilt. Earlier, O. Scholz also delayed the decision to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The French have fewer such doubts, which is why Macron probably feels more comfortable talking about Western troops in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, O. Scholz rejected any consideration of sending troops from Western countries to help defend Ukraine. “There will be no ground forces from European countries or NATO,” he tweeted.
It seems that the disagreements between O. Scholz and E. Macron over military aid to Ukraine are turning into some kind of open quarrel, states “Politico”.
German officials, for example, complain that while Macron is trying to talk tough on Ukraine, he has not done enough, and say Germany is doing much more.
Germany’s Kiel Institute, which collects information on how much countries help Ukraine, points out that France, with 640 million euros in military aid, lags behind Germany, which has given or promised 17.7 billion euros. That is why O. Scholz used every opportunity to pressure EU countries, especially France, to send more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.
French officials, for their part, counter that they supply the weapons that really matter — and do so with less hesitation than the Germans. They say that an example is O. Scholz’s reluctance to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. France committed to sending its SCALP cruise missiles in July after the United Kingdom sent its Storm Shadow in May. These missiles are similar to the Taurus, although the German cruise missiles are considered to have a longer range and have a warhead, so they could be useful against targets such as the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian leaders have been asking for these German missiles, especially as their military runs out of ammunition and Republicans in the US Congress block a $60 billion dollar military aid package. Earlier this month, Ukrainian troops were forced to retreat from the town of Avdiyivka in part because of a lack of artillery shells, allowing Moscow to score its biggest battlefield victory in months.
The Ukrainians want missiles like the Taurus to hit Russian positions and supply lines far behind the front lines, but German officials say they would use rockets and have German troops in Ukraine. For his part, Gustav C. Gressel, a senior researcher at the analytical center “European Council on Foreign Relations”, believes that the Ukrainians could be trained to use “Taurus” without sending German soldiers to Ukraine.
After a summit in Paris on Monday, Macron appeared to attack Scholz over Germany’s indecision on sending arms to Ukraine.
“Many of the people who say ‘never, never’ today were the same people who said ‘never’ two years ago [nesiųsime] tanks, never [nesiųsime] airplanes, never [nesiųsime] long-range missiles, never [nesiųsime] that”, said E. Macron. Clearly referring to Germany’s widely mocked offer to send 5,000 helmets to Ukraine just before the Russian invasion began, Macron added: “I remind you that two years ago many people at this table said, ‘We will offer sleeping bags and helmets.’
But when it comes to Taurus missiles, it will be difficult for O. Scholz to land. One possible solution would be for the US to send more of its ATACMS missiles to Kyiv, as Berlin tends to be one step behind Washington when it comes to arming Ukraine. Germany also did not budge on sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine until it received information that the US would send its own Abrams tanks.
