Chancellor Scholz’s delay in sending heavy weapons to Ukraine is hurting Kyiv’s chances of preserving its sovereignty. It is also damaging Germany’s standing across Europe.
EU governments were in buoyant mood on May 30. They congratulated themselves on agreeing to impose a partial energy embargo on Russia.
That was after weeks of discord caused by
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who fosters friendly relations
with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been blocking the EU’s sixth sanctions package.
The compromise reached was to stop imports
of seaborne oil purchases. It would cut “a huge source of financing for
[Russia’s] war machine” and would deliver maximum “pressure on Russia
to end the war,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel.
Oil, however, will continue to be
delivered via pipelines. And so will gas. So much for denying Putin cash
to finance his war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s armed forces and its civilian
population, especially in the east of the country, are in desperate need
of Western military support.
Putin, so far, may have given up on capturing Kyiv. But Russia’s bombardment of Severodonetsk
brings to a new level the brutality and indiscriminate nature of this
offensive. Here is how BBC correspondent, Quentin Sommerville, described the situation on the ground:
“Having failed to conquer all of Ukraine,
Russian forces are now targeting Donbas - made up of the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions. If Severodonetsk and Lysychansk fall, the whole of
Luhansk would be occupied.”
He added:
“Here, Russia isn’t fighting a campaign of attrition, it’s waging a war
of oblivion. And, for the moment on this front, it is winning.”
Sabine Fischer, a leading Russian expert
at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in
Berlin, warned that Russia could still win the war.
“It is essential to understand the
implications: should Moscow be able to sustain full occupation of the
Donbas and the land bridge to Crimea, they will feel encouraged after
some time to move on towards Odesa and even Kyiv again,” she wrote.
Fischer added that the pressure on
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership could then not be
ruled out. For Fischer, the bottom line is that Germany has to recognize
what is at stake. It is the very existence of Ukraine as an
independent, sovereign state—and the future of the region.
Yet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to procrastinate and prevaricate.
He keeps saying that Berlin supports Ukraine and that Putin will not win this war. Notably, however, he never talks about wanting Ukraine to win.
The Bundestag has insisted that the chancellery deliver heavy weapons—which it promised
to do some time ago. The armament companies are ready to do so. But
Scholz continues to block their delivery. Just as he blocks Ukraine’s
ambitions to join the EU....
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