Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that Germany would not send fighter jets to Ukraine, despite Kiev’s requests to the West.
Germany’s head of government agreed on Wednesday to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other European countries to do the same after weeks of intense debate and pressure from allies, and has now refused to start a debate over more heavy weapons.
“I can only advise not to enter into a constant war of offers when it comes to weapons systems,” Scholz said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper, justifying that this would lead to an internal debate in Germany and that this would “destroy confidence of citizens in government decisions”.
Scholz’s decision to give the go-ahead to send the combat vehicles was accompanied by the United States’ announcement that it would send 31 Abrams vehicles.
The Ukrainian president thanked Berlin and Washington for the decision, which he called a major step forward in efforts to support the war-torn country. But Zelensky said immediately afterwards that Ukraine needed more heavy weapons from NATO allies to defend against Russian forces, including fighter jets and long-range missiles.
In this Sunday’s interview, Scholz rejected that advance, warning against increasing “the risk of escalation” as Russia had already strongly condemned tank promises. “There is no war between NATO and Russia. We will not allow such an escalation,” he assured, stating that it is “necessary” to continue dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Source: DN
