Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on April 23 that US Congressional approval of the latest U.S. aid package for Ukraine did not mean that Europe could ease up on its own obligations to provide more military assistance to Kyiv in its fight against the Russian invasion.
In doing so, the German leader insisted that his government would continue to refuse to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to help Ukraine.
Scholz met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Berlin, where, as leaders of Europe’s largest suppliers of military assistance to Ukraine, they pledged to continue their support “for as long as it takes.”
While describing the long-delayed approval of the $61 billion US military aid package as “an encouraging and necessary signal”, the German Chancellor stressed that Europe too must continue to stand by its obligations.
“But I also want to say clearly that the United States’ decision doesn’t release us here in Europe from the task of further expanding our support for Ukraine so that the country can defend itself against the aggressor,” he said.
Germany recently undertook to supply a third Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, and Scholz renewed his appeal to those European countries with similar missile systems to consider following Germany’s example.
Scholz was adamant he would not back off his refusal to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Use of the Taurus system would require the involvement of German soldiers, whether inside or outside Ukraine, and that, he reiterated, is a line he was not prepared to cross.
Sunak, whose government pledged new military aid to Kyiv earlier this week, citing Germany’s air defence contributions as an example, pointed out how each country “has got different things that it can bring to the table.”
Faced with acute shortages of shells and air defence systems, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been appealing for more international assistance, warning that without such support his country will lose the war.
