French President Emmanuel Macron was the first to anger NATO allies, by suggesting that the West may soon be forced to send forces to Ukraine, which portends a direct confrontation with Russian forces, something that the rest of the alliance countries have long rejected.
Then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came to reveal new divisions. In an attempt to justify why Germany refrained from supplying Ukraine with its most powerful missile, the Taurus missile, he hinted that Britain, France, and the United States might secretly provide assistance to Ukraine in targeting similar weapons, in a move he said Germany could not take. While Britain and France did not formally comment – how they deployed their weapons is rarely discussed – Schulz was immediately accused by former officials of revealing war secrets.
“Schulz’s behavior showed that in terms of Europe’s security he is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ben Wallace, the former British defense secretary, told the Evening Standard newspaper in London. The words of Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative who chaired the main defense committee in the House of Commons, were widely quoted in the British press, who described the statement as “a flagrant violation of intelligence information.”
These tensions come a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened nuclear escalation if NATO forces entered the conflict, highlighting the tensions between Western allies and the difficulties they face in maintaining unity, at a moment when the war appears to be in stalemate with declining support, especially in Washington. .
The challenge now for NATO is to find a combination of new weapons and financial support without inciting a direct confrontation with Putin, and without knowing exactly where that dividing line lies. It is a very difficult situation for Schulz.
Germany has provided more weapons and promised more aid to Ukraine than any country except the United States – but Scholz has drawn a line on the Taurus missile, the power of which is feared to particularly upset Putin.
Schulz’s problems became more complicated recently, when Russian media published a 38-minute phone call between the German Air Force commander and other officers, which clearly showed that there were backup plans in case Schulz decided to change his mind and decide to send the Taurus system after all. The leak was widely interpreted in Berlin as a Russian operation aimed at inciting the opposition against further aid to Ukraine. The matter sparked investigations in Berlin, because the highest-ranking officers were speaking on an open line, giving the Russians an easy way to embarrass the German Chancellor in front of NATO allies and in front of his audience, at a moment when the German public remains hesitant about participating deeper in the war.
The German Armed Forces confirmed that the audio was authentic, but did not comment on its contents, including discussing the need for the German military to be involved in operating the system if it was handed over to Ukraine. Germany appears to have at most 100 Taurus missiles ready to send, which have a longer range than the tactical attack missile system provided by the United States, the British Storm Shadow missile, or the French Scalp missile.
The European Parliament included the “Taurus” system among several systems that Ukraine needs in a non-binding resolution calling on all member states to provide more weapons. But it is far from certain whether even if Germany provided Taurus missiles to Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded, they would make a decisive difference in the conflict.
The German decision last year to send Leopard tanks did not enable Ukraine to launch a successful counterattack, and there are doubts about whether the F-16 fighters, which will soon be delivered to Ukraine, will change the course of the fighting now.
What Ukraine mostly needs, US officials say, is conventional artillery to repel Russian territorial advances, and air defenses against missile and drone attacks. The reason for not giving the Taurus system to Ukraine is simple, according to what Schulz told voters at a recent event in Dresden, Germany. While Germany will provide weapons worth $30 billion to Ukraine in the coming years, the Taurus missile can strike at a distance of 500 kilometers, or 310 miles. This would put Moscow in danger, and he made it clear that he did not trust the ability of the Ukrainian forces to prevent themselves from taking the war to the Kremlin. Germany cannot show that it is directly targeting Russia without risking direct escalation with Moscow.
Schulz said that Germany has provided and pledged to provide more weapons than any other country in the world, which gives it “the right to say yes often, but sometimes – sometimes – not this time.” But what got him even more into trouble was his description of how highly advanced missile systems could not simply be delivered to Ukraine; He pointed out that it requires NATO forces to carry out targeting with these complex weapons.
He added: “What is being done by the British and French in terms of controlling the target and accompanying the control of the target cannot be done in Germany,” declaring that NATO members were in direct control of the weapons systems they provided. Then he said: “What other countries, with other traditions and constitutional institutions, do is something we cannot do in the same way.” He explained: “It is one thing to give weapons to Ukraine, and it is a completely different matter for Germany to direct them towards targets. We must not be linked at any point or place to direct military targeting.”
But then came the leaked tapes, which included General Ingo Gerrtz, the highest-ranking officer in Germany’s air force. Among them is Gerhartz’s intercepted conversation, which included him and other officers, who were preparing to give a secret briefing that they were scheduled to give. The conversation described in detail how German soldiers would be needed for targeting, particularly against hard targets; Such as the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine.
The officers discussed how Germany would only be able to send a maximum of 100 missiles, meaning each missile would have to have an effective effect. They also discussed how to help program the Taurus system in ways that would avoid linking Germany to targeting, and without having to deploy German soldiers in Ukraine. One option, according to their suggestion, was; Working quietly through the weapon manufacturer, or by transferring targeting data to Ukraine by land.
*New York Times service
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