2023-08-13 15:48:00
A week following the meeting held in Saudi Arabia on solutions to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Sunday for new diplomatic efforts to achieve peace.
On August 5, representatives from some 40 countries, including China, Germany, India and the United States, took part in a meeting in Jeddah on August 5, to which Russia had not been invited. International discussions on the same theme also took place in Copenhagen in June.
“Russia must realize that it has taken the wrong path”
“It makes sense for us to continue these talks because they increase the pressure on Russia to realize that they have taken the wrong path and that they must withdraw their troops and make peace possible”declared Olaf Scholz on the occasion of the annual summer interview he grants to the German television channel ZDF.
The German Chancellor described the talks at the level of foreign policy advisers in both Denmark and Saudi Arabia as “very important”adding, however, that“they are really only the beginning”.
For its part, Ukraine said last Monday ” satisfied “ of the summit in Saudi Arabia during which it sought to gain support for its 10-point peace plan, which includes the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory.
Russia, for its part, estimated the same day that a peace settlement was only possible if the Ukrainians, who came up once morest strong resistance from Russian forces in their counter-offensive launched in June, laid down their arms.
Kiev has repeatedly asked Berlin for long-range Taurus cruise missiles to strengthen its action capabilities, but Germany has so far not satisfied this request, fearing that these devices will reach Russian soil and thus aggravate the conflict.
Germany, the second country providing military assistance
Olaf Scholz reiterated in Sunday’s interview that his country is now Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of military assistance behind the United States. But regarding the delivery of Taurus, he remained vague. “As in the past, we will always look very carefully at every decision, what is possible, what makes sense, what our contribution can be”confined himself to recalling the Chancellor.
On Friday, the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) delivered a first shipment of 223,800 shells to Ukraine. It is the first salvo of the two billion euro plan to send one million shells to Kyiv in 2023.
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