WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Europe to use frozen Russian profits to arm Ukraine, Scholz says
Ukraine's backers will use windfall profits on frozen Russian assets to finance arms purchases for Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said following a meeting with his French and Polish counterparts aimed at showing unity after weeks of friction.
At a joint press conference in Berlin, Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, whose ammunition-starved troops face their toughest battles since the early days of Russia's invasion two years ago.
European support has become increasingly key as U.S. President Joe Bidenhas been unable to get a big Ukraine aid package through Congress, and much of his foreign policy energy is focused on the war in Gaza.
Scholz said the leaders had agreed on the need to procure more weapons for Ukraine on the global market and to boost the production of military gear, including through cooperation with partners in Ukraine.
"We will use windfall profits from Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine," Scholz said as he listed European Union efforts to increase support for Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called last month for the EU to consider using such profits to "jointly purchase military equipment for Ukraine".
The Commission is expected to make a concrete proposal in the coming days.
Some EU member countries such as Hungary have signalled reservations about the idea, according to diplomats in Brussels. But Scholz's comments suggested he is confident that EU countries will ultimately approve the proposal.
Scholz said the leaders also agreed on the need for the Ukraine Defence Contact group - a U.S.-led group of some 50 countries that provide military support to Ukraine - to set up a coalition to provide long-distance artillery to Kyiv.
A proposal to set up a long-range missile coalition had already been agreed in Paris on Feb. 26. It was unclear whether Scholz' comments referred to this and how Germany, which has opposed sending its long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, would participate.
Defence ministers from the contact group are set to meet early next week at the Ramstein U.S. Air Base in Germany.
Macron reiterated his warning that it was not just Ukrainian but European security at stake.
"We will do everything as necessary for as long as needed so that Russia cannot win this war," Macron said. "This determination is steadfast and implies our unity."
He added that the three leaders had agreed on the need to reinforce support for Moldova, which says Russia is trying to destabilize it through a "hybrid war".
He said the three leaders had agreed to never initiate an escalation with Russia, a possible way to downplay talk of sending Western ground troops to Ukraine, which has irked Germany.
FRICTION BETWEEN SCHOLZ, MACRON
The meeting of the so-called Weimar triangle - Germany, France and Poland - came after weeks of tensions, in particular between Scholz and Macron, that had alarmed officials in Kyiv and across the continent.
A hastily-arranged summit in Paris last month had aimed to give fresh impetus to stagnating Western efforts to help Ukraine repel a full-scale Russian invasion that has entered its third year.
Instead, Macron's refusal to rule out deploying Western troops to Ukraine triggered a dressing down from Scholz.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Reuters that "indecision and uncoordinated action" among Kyiv's allies was leading to "grave consequences".
"Russia starts to get cocky and begins to believe that it can quantitatively squeeze Ukraine," he said. "Ukraine, in turn, is experiencing a severe shortage of specific resources, primarily shells, and is partially losing the initiative."
Tusk said the meeting on Friday showed "that some malicious rumours that there are differences between European capitals are very exaggerated".
Tusk, who is seeking to revitalize the Weimar Triangle after eight years of nationalist rule in Warsaw, said Macron and Scholz had accepted his invitation to meet again in early summer to present their next joint plans.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
‘We’re not at war with Russia,’ Scholz tells Macron
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that countries that support Ukraine are not at war with Russia. The statement came as the leaders of Germany, France and Poland met in Berlin on Friday to show solidarity after their recent disagreement over military support for Kiev.
During a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the chancellor stated that the countries stand firmly behind Ukraine and that allied help would continue for “as long as it takes.”
“It is also clear that we are not at war with Russia,” Scholz added.
The statement follows simmering disagreements between Paris and Berlin over possible supply of long-range missiles and deployment of troops on the ground in Ukraine.
Scholz has thus far refused to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine in order to avoid further escalating a conflict with Russia. France, on the other hand, has been delivering SCALP-EG cruise missiles, which are already being used by Ukraine and are roughly equivalent to the Taurus.
Macron’s recent suggestion that the West “cannot exclude” the possibility of sending soldiers to aid Ukraine in its conflict with Russia has also drawn criticism from Germany and other NATO states.
The chancellor and the French president came together before the three-way talks on Friday to clear the air, after weeks in which the two very publicly disagreed over their Ukraine strategy.
Simmering disagreements between the two threatened to undermine cooperation between the allies.
Germany, France and Poland are among Ukraine’s key allies. Germany has become Ukraine’s second-biggest supplier of military aid after the US and is stepping up support this year.
Reuters/RT