By Soren Haberlandt
Almost 100 days of war, almost 100 days of criticism. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (41, Greens) is finally speaking plain text about war and is doing what Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64, SPD) has been avoiding for weeks: “Ukraine must win,” she replied on Wednesday evening in the ZDF program “Markus Lanz ’ to the simple question: ‘Should Ukraine win the war?’
Chancellor Scholz has long hesitated to state clearly that Ukraine should win the war instigated by Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin (69). Instead, he said again on Wednesday in the general debate in the Bundestag: “Putin must not and will not win this war.”
The Union had targeted Scholz’s choice of words. Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (66, CDU) criticized in the Bundestag that Scholz did not simply say: “Ukraine must win this war.” The two top politicians exchanged blows.
On Monday, the foreign minister answered a question from BILD in a somewhat more defensive manner: “Russia must under no circumstances win this war, and that means that Russia needs a strategic defeat. Ukraine must be able to make free decisions about its country again.”
For the Schwurbel answers, especially from the SPD camp, there was sharp criticism from the opposition – but also from the traffic light partner FDP.
For weeks, Chancellor Scholz was accused of hesitating and procrastinating on arms deliveries to Ukraine. Now Ukraine is to receive more heavy weapons.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised Ukraine the delivery of a modern anti-aircraft system to fight Russian attackers.
The manufacturer Diehl’s Iris-T is the most modern air defense system that Germany has Photo: picture alliance / E54
According to Scholz, the air defense system is an Iris-T-SLM from the manufacturer Diehl. This will deliver the most modern air defense system that Germany has.
He also announced that Germany would support the US-announced delivery of multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine “according to our technical capabilities.”
► The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk (46) welcomed the announcement on Wednesday evening. “Finally we can say to Chancellor Scholz from the bottom of our hearts: Thank you!” Melnyk told the “Wirtschaftswoche”. “Now one can really speak of a turning point for Ukraine. We hope for more modern weapon systems from Germany.”
In recent months, he has repeatedly accused the German government of being too reluctant to supply weapons for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian attack. According to “Wirtschaftswoche”, Melnyk gave the costs for the Iris-T system at 140 million euros per unit.
Ambassador to Ukraine Andriy Melnyk Photo: picture alliance/dpa
It is hoped that the traffic light government will also support the ordering of further Iris systems and will now also agree to the delivery of further tanks in a timely manner, Melnyk told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “For us, the Marder and the Leopard 1 remain on the agenda. We are expecting the go-ahead from the federal government quickly.”
However, he also warned to hurry: “The last delivery of German arms arrived in Ukraine on May 3rd.” This also means: Germany is slowly picking up the pace, but in fact has not delivered any arms to Ukraine for a month!
