West risks destruction by arming Kyiv: Russia
Moscow says supplies of offensive weapons to Kyiv would lead to a global catastrophe; France, Germany committed to show unwavering support to Ukraine; Medvedev says Russia could form a military alliance with foes of the US.
The speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament warned on Sunday that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction, a message that followed new pledges of armoured vehicles, air defence systems and other equipment but not the batle tanks Kyiv requested.
Ukraine’s supporters pledged billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine on Friday, though the new commitments were overshadowed by defence leaders failing at an international meeting in the Ramstein air base in Germany, to agree on Ukraine’s urgent request for Germanmade Leopard 2 batle tanks.
State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said that governments giving more powerful weapons to Ukraine could cause a “global tragedy that would destroy their countries.”
“Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” he said.
“If Washington and Nato supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making atempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”
Germany is one of the main donors of weapons to Ukraine, and it ordered a review of its Leopard 2 stocks in preparation for a possible green light. Nonetheless, the government in Berlin has shown caution at each step of increasing its commitments to Ukraine, a hesitancy seen as rooted in its history and political culture.
France and Germany commited to show “unwavering support” to Ukraine during ceremonies and talks on Sunday celebrating the 60th anniversary of their post-world War II friendship treaty. In a joint declaration, the countries said they would “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Germany’s tentativeness has drawn heavy criticism, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, countries on Nato’s eastern flank controlled by Moscow in the past and which feel especially threatened by Russia’s renewed imperial ambitions.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that if Germany does not consent to transferring Leopard tanks to Ukraine, his country was prepared to build a “smaller coalition” of countries that would send theirs anyway.
“Almost a year had passed since the outbreak of war,” Morawiecki said in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP published Sunday.
In Washington, two leading lawmakers urged the US on Sunday to send some of its Abrams tanks to Ukraine, in the interests of overcoming Germany’s reluctance to share its own, more suitable Leopard 2 tanks.
“If we announced we were giving an Abrams tank, just one, that would unleash” the flow of tanks from Germany, Rep. Michael Mccaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Commitee, told ABC’S “This Week on Sunday.”
“What I hear is that Germany’s waiting on us to take the lead.”
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said the meeting in Ramstein “let no doubt that our enemies will try to exhaust or beter destroy us,” adding that “they have enough weapons” to achieve the purpose.
Medvedev, a former Russian president, warned on his messaging app channel that Russia could seek to form a military alliance with foes of the United States. He didn’t name the nations he had in mind, but Russia has defense cooperation with Iran and Venezuela, an existing military alliance with Belarus and strong ties with North Korea.. Since invading Ukraine, Russia also has increased both the scope and the number of its joint military drills with China.
“In case of a protracted conflict, a new military alliance will emerge that will include the nations that are fed up with the Americans and a pack of their castrated dogs,” Medvedev said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who on Saturday mourned the victims of the helicopter crash, vowed on Sunday that Ukraine would prevail in the war.
“We are united because we are strong. We are strong because we are united,” the Ukrainian leader said in a video address as he marked Ukraine Unity Day, which commemorates the day in 1919 when East and West Ukraine were united.
Ukraine is asking for more weapons as it anticipates Russia’s forces launching a new offensive in the spring.
France and Germany commited on Sunday to giving Ukraine “unwavering support” and to strengthening the European Union as they sought to overcome differences over defence, energy and economic issues on the 60th anniversary of their post-world War II friendship treaty.
The German government’s entire cabinet was in Paris for joint meetings with their French counterparts, and about 300 lawmakers from the two countries came together at the Sorbonne University during the day of ceremonies and talks.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz then oversaw discussions at the Elysee Palace.
In a joint declaration, the two countries said they “will continue to show unwavering support to Ukraine in all areas possible” and will “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
They also pledged to “work together for a European Union that is more resilient, more sustainable and more capable to act independently.”
The treaty that sealed a bond between longtime enemies France and Germany 60 years ago underpinned today’s EU.
“Let us use our inseparable friendship ... to shape the present and future of our continent, together with our European partners,” Scholz said at the ceremony at the Sorbonne.
The war in Ukraine has exposed differences in strategy between the two countries, notably in European talks on how to deal with the resulting energy crisis and punishing inflation, as well as over future military investments.
Both countries have contributed significant weaponry to Ukraine, but Ukraine is asking for tanks and more powerful arms as Russia’s war drags on.
Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “imperialism will not win . ... We will not allow Europe to revert to a time when violence replaced politics and our continent was torn apart by hatred and national rivalries,” he added.
Macron called for “a new energy model” in the EU based on diversifying supplies and encouraging carbon-free energy production.
In their joint declaration, Paris and Berlin commited to “stepping up our investments in the technologies of tomorrow, particularly renewable and low carbon energies.” They especially committed to develop a “joint road map” on hydrogen.
They said they aim to “strengthen (their) ties” in the fields of foreign and security policy, defense, industry, digital policy, energy, transition to a green economy and European issues.
Aside from Ukraine, the talks focused on Europe’s response to the subsidies for US electric car makers and other businesses in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
France wants Europe to counter what it considers an unfair move by Washington. Paris is pushing for the EU to relax rules on state subsidies in order to accelerate their allocation, simplify the bloc’s support for investments and create a EU sovereign fund to boost green industries. Berlin, however, warns against protectionism.
No specific mention of the Inflation Reduction Act appeared in the joint declaration, yet both countries stressed that “EU businesses are facing the challenges of the green and digital transition,” leading private investments to be “required on an almost unprecedented scale.”
French-german government meetings are usually held at least once a year to coordinate policies. The last one was held in May 2021 via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunday’s gathering was the first in-person meeting since 2019.
The officials were marking the 60th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty signed by French President and wartime anti-nazi resistance leader Charles de Gaulle and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on Jan.22, 1963.
Berlin and Paris have a decades-long history of bilateral irritants and European disputes that coexist with the countries’ friendship and cooperation.
Meanwhile, former British prime minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv on a surprise trip, meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledging that Britain would “stick by Ukraine as long as it takes.”
Johnson, who let office in September in the wake of a series of scandals, was prime minister when Russia invaded Ukraine last February and he sought to position London as Kyiv’s top ally in the West.