Scholz said after the Weimar Trilateral meeting in Berlin that arms would be bought for Ukraine on the world market. “Secondly, we will expand the production of military equipment together with partners in Ukraine,” the SPD politician said. Berlin has already agreed to support a Czech bid to buy artillery munitions for Kiev with a three-digit million sum.
As a third step, a new alliance of long-range rocket artillery will be created as part of the Ramstein design. The EU will expand its aid and training mission. The 50-nation group, set up at the US air base of the same name in spring 2022, meets regularly to organize support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Macron: We don't want any expansion
Additionally, potential profits from Russian assets should benefit Ukrainian security. “We will use windfall profits from frozen Russian assets in Europe to financially support arms purchases for Ukraine,” Scholz declared.
After days of disagreement over the deployment of Western ground forces, French President Macron insisted: “We are ready. We have decided.” The three governments will do everything and as long as necessary “so that Russia cannot win this war.” At the same time, the French president stressed that they do not want any escalation. “That also means we must be united.”
Differences between Berlin and Paris
The meeting was preceded by an apparent clash between Scholz and Macron over Ukraine strategy. After the last major Ukraine summit in Paris nearly three weeks ago, Macron said sending ground troops was an option.
In the following days, Scholes was repeatedly contradicted. “To put it bluntly: As German chancellor, I will not send any soldiers from our Bundeswehr to Ukraine,” Schalz said. France's president, on the other hand, showed little understanding of the president's refusal to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Tusk did not comment on the report on NATO troops
After the tripartite summit in Berlin, Polish Prime Minister Tusk said: “We spoke with one voice today, primarily on security issues for our continent, for our countries and all this, of course, in the context of war.” Macron's statement on a Tusk did not comment on the deployment of Western ground forces in Ukraine. In late February, Tusk announced that he had no intention of sending troops to Poland.
A little later, Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, took a clearer stand. “The presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is not unthinkable. I welcome the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron,” he wrote on X (Twitter). Because Macron's suggestion “instead of fearing Putin, we fear Putin,” Sikorsky continued.
