Pressed to send fighter jets to Ukraine, the German Chancellor issued a warning Chancellor Olaf Scholz once once more rejected requests by Ukrainian officials to supply fighter jets to repel the Russian campaign, and called on Western nations not to engage in “arms wars”.
Last week, Germany announced it would deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine following weeks of pressure from NATO and its European Union (EU) allies.
“The fact that we had just made a decision regarding sending tanks, and immediately the next debate regarding fighters broke out in Germany. This eroded people’s confidence in the tanks. government decision,” Scholz said in an interview with the German newspaper Tagesspiegel on January 29.
“I can only advise that we should not engage in an ‘arms war’,” he stressed.
Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk has urged Germany to provide dozens of Tornado fighters and called on the international community to join a “fighter alliance” to aid his country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once once more asked Western countries to provide Kiev with more advanced weapons systems in his daily speech on January 28. Mr. Zelensky specifically mentioned the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
“There is nothing wrong with providing weapons to defend Ukraine from Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Last week, Russia condemned NATO’s delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine, calling it “direct and growing” evidence of US and European involvement in the conflict.
‘Continue to talk’ with President Putin
The German leader also said he would continue to talk by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, stressing the importance of maintaining an open channel of communication to find a way to end the conflict.
“I will keep calling Putin, because we have to keep talking to each other,” Scholz said.
The last phone call between the two was in early December 2022. The Russian leader then said that Germany and the West’s approach to Ukraine was “destructive” and called on Berlin to rethink its approach.
Mr. Scholz said conversations often revolved around “specific issues” such as prisoner exchanges, Ukraine’s grain exports and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“For me, it is important that the conversations continue to return to the main point: How to get the world out of this terrible situation? The condition is very clear: the Russian army must withdraw,” he said. Scholz said in the interview.
No ‘escalation’
Scholz also warned that NATO should not be dragged into a conflict with Moscow.
“We must do everything to ensure that the Ukraine conflict does not turn into a war between Russia and NATO,” he stressed, adding that he would not “allow such escalation”.
The announcement of Germany’s delivery of the Leopard 2 to Ukraine, soon followed by a commitment to supply US M1 Abrams tanks to Kiev, angered the Kremlin.
“At the moment, we don’t have any talks with Prime Minister Scholz on the schedule. Despite this, President Putin has been and remains ready to connect,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
According to the Kiel Institute for World Economy, Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest military hardware donor following the United States, ahead of other European powers such as France and Britain.
