Chancellor Olaf Schulz is under increasing pressure to drop his resistance to sending German-made cruise missiles to Ukraine after the US gave Kiev limited use of its weapons for attacks inside Russia.
US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles to conduct limited strikes in Russia’s Kursk region, a major policy shift from before Donald Trump took office in January. .
Schulz has long resisted sending Germany’s long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, fearing that such a move would draw NATO states into the conflict. A spokesman for the chancellor reiterated his position on Monday.
But there are growing calls for Schulz to change his policy. Economy Minister and Green candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck said on Sunday that he would send Taurus if he wins the country’s snap election in February.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a senior MEP, noted that the Greens, the opposition Christian Democratic Union party and her party, the liberal FDP, were all in favor of delivering Taurus to Ukraine.
He told German radio that he now has a “numerical majority” in the Bundestag. [for this]”
Analysts say the German-made Taurus will significantly strengthen Ukraine’s ability to inflict damage on Russia. The weapon has an intelligent warhead system that can inflict maximum damage on structures such as bridges and bunkers and has a range of over 500 km.
Scholes’ intervention on Torosis contrasts with the positions of Britain and France, both of which have been urging Biden to back him in authorizing Ukraine to use its Storm Shadow and Scallops to hit targets in Russia. do
However, Biden has so far refused to back Kiev’s use of British- and French-made weapons for fear of escalating the conflict.
The mounting pressure on Scholz also comes at a critical time for the chancellor, who pulled the plug on his coalition this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized him for an hour-long phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, his first in almost two years.
Zielinski accused her of “opening Pandora’s Box.” “This is exactly what Putin has been looking for for a long time. It is very important for him to undermine his isolation,” he said on X.
On Monday, Polish President Andrzej Duda took aim at Schulz, saying it was a “pity” that Germany, along with France and Britain, had joined forces with the United States to help Ukraine defend itself with more missiles. Did not unite.
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday that he hoped other EU member states would follow the US decision to allow Ukraine to attack targets in Russia.
“Ukraine should be able to use the weapons we provide to not only intercept the arrows, but to be able to target the archers,” Borel said. “I hope the member states will agree to this.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barot said on Monday that France is ready to lift the sanctions imposed on Ukraine for the past six months.
“We said openly that this is an option we will consider if it is allowed to attack targets from which the Russians are currently invading Ukrainian territory,” Birot said.
German Foreign Minister and Greens member Annalina Birbock also praised the US move. “Self-defense means you don’t wait until rockets hit a children’s hospital . . . but that you stop this military terror at launch,” he said.
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Ukraine desperately needs new weapons as its front line collapses. But experts say the overall impact of any deployment of long-range missiles depends on whether the United States expands the area in which they can be used.
Military expert Mykola Beliskov said the weapons would not significantly change the dynamics of the war if confined to Russia’s Kursk region.
“The front line needs to be completely stabilized, which requires Atacms attacks along its length,” Beliskov said.
Biden’s decision comes nearly two years after Ukraine first requested permission to use Western-supplied missiles to strike Russian territory. Decision-making by the US leadership on arms delivery to Kiev has been cautious and delayed.
The long and highly publicized debate over long-range weapons has given Moscow the opportunity to move many of its airfields and bases out of Atacms range.
“I don’t see Atacms as a game-changer at this stage. Nick Reynolds of the Royal United Services Institute said it was hard to see how they could change the trajectory of the conflict.
The Kremlin said the US decision to allow Ukraine to carry out limited strikes with Atacms inside Russia marked a “new point of concern” in the nearly three-year-old conflict, and called for Moscow to respond “appropriately”. will
According to Interfax, the Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the outgoing Biden administration was trying to “add fuel to the fire and provoke an escalation of tensions.”
Peskov did not say what Russia would do in response but recalled Putin’s earlier comments that such a move would amount to direct war between Moscow and the West.
Peskov said that if this decision has been taken, it means nothing but the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine.
Additional reporting by Raphael Minder in Warsaw
