AForeign Minister Annalena Baerbock has defended the decision against a no-fly zone over Ukraine out of fear of a further escalation of the war. “These are the moments in foreign policy when you can actually only choose between plague and cholera,” said the Green politician on Sunday in the program “Anne Will” in the first. But: One bears the responsibility that this war does not lead to a third world war. “Another spillover of this war to Poland, to the Baltic states – we cannot take responsibility for that.”
NATO had rejected a corresponding request by Ukraine for such a no-fly zone. The Allies are in agreement that NATO aircraft should not operate in Ukrainian airspace, the Secretary General of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Friday.
“Maximum pressure on Putin”
Baerbock said in the first that all levers had been set in motion with economic and financial means and with arms deliveries to exert maximum pressure on the Russian President. One is also still in talks for humanitarian corridors. You look carefully at each point.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also rejected the no-fly zone demanded by Ukraine on the TV station “Bild”. He must be responsible for Germany and decide what could follow. “Making this horrible war a bigger war will not reduce suffering.”
Despite heavy losses, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian believes Ukraine will be able to defeat the attacking Russian forces. “I believe that Ukraine will win,” Le Drian told France 5 on Sunday. “What has been most striking over the past ten days is Ukraine’s strong resilience, to a degree that experts could not have imagined.”
However, Le Drian warned that the Russian army was now shifting to “siege logic”. “We have the example of Grozny, we have the example of Aleppo and it will happen again,” the minister said. In 1999, Russian troops destroyed the city of Grozny in Chechnya, and in 2016 they were involved in the destruction of Aleppo in Syria. “I think what you will discover in Mariupol when the war is over will be terrible,” Le Drian said, warning of a similar fate for Odessa and Kyiv.
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