(Berlin) The Russian offensive in Ukraine “is getting bogged down despite all the destruction it causes day after day,” said Olaf Scholz on Wednesday.
Posted at 6:58
The “truth is that war destroys Ukraine but that by waging war, (Vladimir) Putin also destroys the future of Russia”, added the German Chancellor before the Bundestag, assuring that Kyiv could “count on the ‘help’ from Germany.
“The images that reach us every day from Ukraine are hard to bear: destroyed houses, bombed hospitals, besieged cities, dead soldiers and more and more civilians killed and injured, women and children fleeing with the little they were able to win in front of Putin’s tanks and missiles,” said the German leader.
“It is clear that refugees are welcome here,” he said. Germany has already officially taken in more than 232,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Mr. Scholz, on the other hand, reaffirmed that NATO would not participate directly in the conflict. “As difficult as it may be, we will not give in to the demands of a no-fly zone. NATO will not be part of the war,” he asserted.
And he does not see Germany, which must restrict its energy dependence on Moscow, giving up gas or oil supplies from Russia in the short term. “To do so overnight would be to plunge our country and all of Europe into recession,” he warned. “Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened. Entire industrial sectors would be in trouble,” warned Scholz.
“Sanctions should not hit European states harder than Russian leaders,” he said.