The purpose of the surprise trip to kyiv Olaf Scholz was to express Ukraine their unwavering commitment, embodied in a new support package from 650 million euros. It would thus mitigate the Ukrainian unrest over its refusal to give the green light to the Taurus long-range missiles. Instead of good words, he was met with a Volodímir Zelenski visibly upset and ready to criticize him in public. Not only because unlike the United Kingdom, the United States and France, Germany does not authorize its shipment and use on Russian territory, but also because of Scholz’s recent call to Vladimir Putin.
These types of actions can be interpreted as a “de facto recognition” y “they do not strengthen Ukraine“Warned Zelensky, in the joint press conference with Scholz, after spoiling the conversation held by the chancellor with the Russian president in mid-November. “After a conversation (with Putin) there is a second, a third, a fifth conversation , because sometimes people want to take the lead for themselves,” added the Ukrainian leader.
Scholz’s visit to kyiv was his first in two and a half years. That is, it was the second time he had set foot on Ukrainian soil since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion. The German Chancellor was careful to remember the many times he has spoken by telephone with Zelensky, his many meetings at international summits with the Ukrainian leader, as well as his frequent visits to Germany. “There will be few leaders with whom in the last three years I have had such close and intense contacts,” Scholz said. After the United States, Germany is the second taxpayer to military aid to Ukraine, with a total amount of 28,000 million eurosaccording to German figures, mainly in air defense systems.
That Berlin is more supportive than any other European ally is a kind of mantra that Scholz uses almost daily. Her visit to kyiv was without prior announcement, as is usually done for security reasons, and followed the one made over the weekend, having just assumed her positions, by the new head of European diplomacy, the Estonian Katja Callasand the president of the European Council, the Portuguese Antonio Costa.
Electoral message
For Scholz, it also had something of a message to the voters of his country. On Saturday, at the start of the campaign for the early German elections on February 23, the chancellor and candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) insisted on his unwavering support for Ukraine and recalled how much Germany has contributed to kyiv. Especially in systems Patriot and tanks Leopard. But he also asserted that Germany, under his leadership, will not play “russian roulette“.
This consideration includes his refusal to deliver the Taurus, the German long-range missiles whose operability and precision is greater than the British Storm Shadow and the American ATACMS. They can achieve goals 500 kilometers. That means that, theoretically, they could reach the outskirts of Moscow, if launched from the extreme north of Ukraine.
“We are looking for paths to a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” Scholz insisted at the press conference with Zelensky. “There will be no decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine or over the heads of Ukrainians.”
Scholz’s determination not to hand over his Taurus clashes with the opinion of the Greens, his only remaining coalition partners, after breaking with the third ally, the Liberal Party (FDP). The leadership of the environmentalist party admitted this weekend that, with respect to Ukraine, they now see more “coincidences of opinion” with the conservative opposition than with Scholz’s social democrats. This positioning of the Greens can be interpreted as an electoral nod or offer to the conservative bloc of Friedrich Merz, in first position in the polls for the national elections. Scholz, however, is better off playing the role of moderate supporter regarding Ukraine. More than 60% of Germans are against the sending of the Taurus, either for fear of retaliation by the use of Western missiles or by conviction.
