German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday rejected the possibility of sending European troops to the Ukrainian front, raised by Emmanuel Macron.
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The day after Emmanuel Macron’s declarations not excluding the sending of ground troops to Ukraine, the German Chancellor took the opposite view of the French head of state on Tuesday February 27. Olaf Scholz said “that there will be no troops on the ground, no soldiers sent either by European states or by NATO states on Ukrainian soil”.
The chancellor also refuses to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine, Taurus missiles with a range of 400 kilometers. For months, Ukraine has been requesting the delivery of these missiles to strike Russian targets positioned far behind the front, such as ammunition depots, command posts and nerve centers. These precision weapons, dropped by plane, are capable of reaching an objective located more than 500 kilometers away, or twice as far as the French and British Storm Shadow and Scalp already delivered to Kiev’s troops.
The conservative opposition and some coalition partners are pressing the chancellor to provide these missiles. But Olaf Scholz remains inflexible. The German army and soldiers should not be associated with the objectives achieved by these missiles, he asserts. There is no question of Germany finding itself, in a certain way, directly involved in the war, indicates the chancellor, who fears “an escalation in the conflict”.
This year, Germany pledged to deliver four Iris-T air defense systems, anti-tank mines and 140,000 artillery shells to Ukraine.
Caution criticized by Emmanuel Macron
This caution is not to Emmanuel Macron’s taste. Monday evening, the Head of State, during his press conference, regretted the wait-and-see attitude of certain countries: “Many people who say ‘never’ today were the same people who said ‘never tanks’, ‘never planes’, ‘never long-range missiles’ two years ago. I remind you that there At two years old, many around this table were saying: ‘We’re going to offer sleeping bags and helmets'”underlined the head of state.
Germany is not named but it is clearly targeted because it is an allusion to the first German initiative, at the very beginning of the Russian invasion, to send helmets to the Ukrainians and not weapons. . It is an example often used now in European diplomatic circles to highlight German procrastination, as if Berlin had not immediately understood the extent of this conflict.
Through his very offensive statements, Emmanuel Macron also tries to make people forget his own hesitations. At the start of the war, he called for Russia not to be humiliated. This restrained tone is now well and truly over.