The big Ukraine summit in Ramstein is canceled due to the US President’s cancellation. Zelenskyj still comes to Germany, to its second most important arms supplier.
Berlin – On his tour through Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is visiting Berlin today after London, Paris and Rome. His talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will focus on continued support for Ukraine with arms deliveries for the defense against the Russian invaders, but also on efforts to find a peace solution. On Thursday evening Zelensky met Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome. An audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican is planned for Friday morning.
Zelensky actually wanted to take part in a Ukraine summit with 50 allied countries on Saturday at the US air force base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the summit was postponed after US President Joe Biden canceled the meeting due to Hurricane Milton. Instead of Biden, Zelenskyj is now coming to Berlin for a bilateral visit.
It is the Ukrainian president’s second visit to Germany within five weeks and the third personal conversation with Scholz during this period. At the beginning of September, Zelensky took part in a defense ministerial meeting 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 for a conversation.
Zelensky wants changes towards peace by December
On his European tour, Zelensky is promoting his so-called “victory plan,” about which not much is known yet. It’s about creating conditions “for a just end to the war,” he said on Thursday in London. He had previously made it clear at a Ukraine-Southeast Europe summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, that he considered 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 allows the war to end by 2025 at the latest.
By a just end to the war, Zelenskyj means the withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied territories. Ukrainian leaders rejected an Italian media report that Kiev was ready for a ceasefire along the current front line. “A cease-fire is not a topic in our consultations with the allies and we are not talking about it,” Zelensky said 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 military sources, Russian troops are continuing their offensive in eastern Ukraine with great force. There were 114 attacks on Thursday, the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report. 30 attacks were counted on the Lyman sector of the front alone. The railway junction is in the Donetsk region. The section of the front 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 Kurachiwe sections. The military’s figures cannot be verified in detail, but they do allow us to draw conclusions about the intensity of the fighting.
59 percent would like to have a phone call from Scholz and Putin
Germany is Ukraine’s second most important arms supplier after the USA. In recent weeks, the Chancellor has also been increasingly promoting a peace process. He has repeatedly made it clear that, after almost two years of radio silence, he is fundamentally ready to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin again. A clear majority of Germans think this is correct. According to a YouGov survey commissioned by the German Press Agency, 59 percent would like the two to have a telephone conversation, and in East Germany the figure is even 68 percent.
The Germans are divided on the question of whether Ukraine should give up part of its territory in order to make peace with Russia. 39 percent say she shouldn’t give away an inch. On the other hand, 22 percent believe that Ukraine should forgo the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Another 23 percent even advocate that, in addition to Crimea, Kiev should also give up areas that have been occupied by Russia since the invasion in February 2022. Overall, 45 percent are in favor of a territorial waiver.
Disagreement on permits for long-range weapons
There is also disagreement over the question of whether Ukraine should be allowed to fire long-range Western weapons deep into Russian territory. 42 percent are more for it and 43 percent are more against it.
The Ukrainian president has long been demanding such permission from Western allies. Scholz sees this skeptically. Unlike the USA, Great Britain and France, Germany has not delivered any 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 stop
However, the demands for the delivery of long-range weapons from Germany have not stopped. The Green European politician Anton Hofreiter told the “Rheinische Post” before the meeting between Scholz and Zelensky: “We have to deliver significantly more air defense, ammunition and long-range weapons to Ukraine. Limiting the range of weapons supplied does not contribute to de-escalation, but rather enables further Russian attacks.”
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the European Parliament, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), criticized the fact that, unlike the USA, Great Britain and France, Scholz has refrained from supplying long-range weapons. “Ukraine is drowning, and we are still just throwing lifebuoys to save it from drowning,” she said.
The CDU defense expert Johann Wadephul also renewed his demand that German cruise missiles be made available to Ukraine. “The delivery of Taurus would be an important help. This is shown by the successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian depots far in the hinterland using cruise missiles with comparable power.” dpa
#Zelenskyj #Scholz #Steinmeier