Germany Berlin instead of Ramstein: Selenskyj with Scholz and Steinmeier
On his tour of Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi is visiting Berlin today after London, Paris and Rome.
11.10.2024, 05:38
SDA
His talks with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will focus on further support for Ukraine with arms supplies for the defensive struggle against the Russian invaders, but also on efforts to find a peace solution. On Thursday evening, Selensky met Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome. An audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican is planned for Friday morning.
Selensky had originally planned to take part in a Ukraine summit with 50 allied countries at the US airbase in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, on Saturday. However, the summit was postponed after US President Joe Biden canceled it due to Hurricane Milton. Instead of Biden, Selenskyj is now coming to Berlin for a bilateral visit.
It is the Ukrainian President's second visit to Germany in five weeks and the third personal meeting with Scholz in this period. At the beginning of September, Zelensky took part in a meeting of defense ministers of the allies in Ramstein and met Scholz in Frankfurt am Main. Just three weeks later, the two met again shortly before the UN General Assembly in New York.
Selenskyj wants changes towards peace by December
On his European tour, Selensky is promoting his so-called "victory plan", of which not much is known so far. It is about creating conditions "for a just end to the war", he said in London on Thursday. He had previously made it clear at a Ukraine-South-East Europe summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, that he considers the next few months to be crucial. "In October, November and December we have a real chance to change things towards peace and lasting stability." The situation on the battlefield would allow the war to end by 2025 at the latest.
Selensky understands a just end to the war to mean the withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied territories. The Ukrainian government rejected an Italian media report that Kiev was ready for a ceasefire along the current front line. "A ceasefire is not a topic of our consultations with the allies, and we are not talking about it," said Selensky after his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. On the Russian side, there are also no signs of backing down in the war against Ukraine.
Russian troops continue to advance in eastern Ukraine
According to Kiev's military, Russian troops are continuing their offensive in eastern Ukraine with great force. There were 114 attacks on Thursday, the Ukrainian General Staff announced in its situation report. Thirty attacks alone were counted on the front section near Lyman. The railroad junction is located in the Donetsk region. However, the front section also includes the last villages in the Luhansk region that Russia has not yet occupied. Other focal points of the attacks were the Pokrovsk and Kurakhiv sections. The military's figures cannot be verified in detail, but allow conclusions to be drawn about the intensity of the fighting.
59 percent would like a phone call from Scholz and Putin
Germany is Ukraine's second most important arms supplier after the USA. However, the Chancellor has also increasingly campaigned for a peace process in recent weeks. He has repeatedly made it clear that, after almost two years of radio silence, he is also prepared in principle to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin again. A clear majority of Germans think this is the right thing to do. According to a YouGov survey conducted on behalf of Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 59% would like the two of them to speak on the phone; in eastern Germany, the figure is as high as 68%.
Germans are divided on the question of whether Ukraine should give up part of its territory for peace with Russia. 39 percent say it should not give up an inch. In contrast, 22% believe that Ukraine should give up the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. A further 23% even argue that, in addition to Crimea, Kiev should also give up territories that have been occupied by Russia since the invasion in February 2022. Together, 45% are therefore in favor of giving up territory.
Disagreement on permission for long-range weapons
There is also disagreement on the question of whether Ukraine should be given permission to fire long-range Western weapons deep into Russian territory. 42 percent are rather in favor and 43 percent rather against.
The Ukrainian president has been demanding such permission from the Western allies for a long time. Scholz is skeptical about this. Unlike the USA, Great Britain and France, Germany has not supplied long-range weapons in the first place. Scholz does not want to provide the "Taurus" cruise missile with a range of 500 kilometers because he fears that Germany and NATO could then be drawn into the war.
Calls for "Taurus" do not fall silent
However, the calls for the delivery of long-range weapons from Germany have not fallen silent. Green Party European politician Anton Hofreiter told the Rheinische Post ahead of the meeting between Scholz and Selenskyj: "We must deliver significantly more air defense, ammunition and long-range weapons to Ukraine. Range restrictions on supplied weapons do not contribute to de-escalation, but rather enable further Russian attacks."
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), Chairwoman of the Defence Committee in the European Parliament, criticized the fact that Scholz, unlike the USA, Great Britain and France, is refraining from supplying long-range weapons. "Ukraine is drowning and we are still only throwing it lifebelts to save it from drowning," she said.
CDU defense expert Johann Wadephul also reiterated his call for German cruise missiles to be made available to Ukraine. "The delivery of Taurus would be an important help. This is demonstrated by the successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian depots far in the hinterland using cruise missiles with comparable striking power."
