By Philip Fabian
That took a while! According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russia will not win the war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Russia, I am convinced, cannot and will no longer win this war on the battlefield. The merciless attacks on vital infrastructure, on water and energy lines, on Ukrainian cities and villages – they are a terrible and at the same time desperate scorched earth strategy,” Scholz said in a speech at the Berlin Security Conference on Wednesday.
What this sentence means: Militarily, Germany is no longer afraid of Putin! Finally, one might think – after months of evidence that the Russian invasion would fail.
Scholz sounded different for a long time
︎ For months he kept saying that Russia “should not” win the war.
︎ Scholz’s behavior at the beginning of the war had more serious consequences: he gave the impression that he had counted on a quick defeat for Ukraine – which is why he had delayed arms aid to Ukraine.
At least that’s what Great Britain’s then Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims, who acted very differently and had Ukrainian soldiers trained in the run-up to Putin’s invasion in order to be prepared for the Russian attack.
In contrast to Scholz, the British Prime Minister had said clearly from the start that a quick Russian victory against Ukraine was not likely for military reasons.
Johnson in February 2022: “I believe that President Putin and his circle are seriously miscalculating the preparations for the invasion of Ukraine (…) whose armed forces now exceed 200,000 men and which is significantly more combat-hardened today than it was in 2014.”
One can be sure that Russia “will not be allowed to get away with it,” Scholz said on Tuesday. No aggressor should ever doubt that Germany is determined to defend every ally and every centimeter of alliance territory “with all the means at our disposal,” said Scholz.
The “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric of the Russian regime” is also taken very seriously. It is important to do everything “to keep the red line, according to which a nuclear war must never become a reality,” Scholz warned.
Germany has up to 17,000 soldiers for the NATO Response Force. In 2023, you will once again take over the leadership of the NATO Rapid Response Group; the German NATO battle group in Lithuania has been permanently strengthened. “We are working on improving the military capabilities of the European Union,” said Scholz.