Scholz rejects ‘bidding war’ in aid of Kyiv

Chancellor will not be drawn into ‘who can offer more’ in remarks likely to upset Ukrainian president

OLAF SCHOLZ said yesterday that Germany would not be drawn into a “public bidding war” over military support for Ukraine ahead of a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pair last night dined with Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, at the Elysée Palace in Paris before travelling to Brussels, where Mr Zelensky will this morning address a summit of EU leaders.

Mr Scholz’s remarks were expected to set him on a collision course with the Ukrainian president, who is using a mini-tour of Europe to build a coalition willing to provide Kyiv with Natostandard aircraft. Mr Zelensky yesterday secured the backing of Britain, which will train Ukrainian pilots to fly the sophisticated weaponry.

Speaking ahead of the dinner, Mr Scholz said Germany and its partners had backed Ukraine “financially, with humanitarian aid and with weapons”, adding: “We will continue to do so as long as necessary. I am taking a clear message to Brussels: Ukraine belongs to the European family.”

Mr Scholz has repeatedly rejected Kyiv’s pleas to supply it with fighter jets, despite criticism over his slow decision to grant it German battle tanks. Before travelling to Paris, the German chancellor accused his critics of engaging in “a public bidding war according to the principle of battle tanks, submarines, battleships: who can offer more. Germany won’t get involved,” he told the German parliament.

Instead of fighter jets, Berlin, the Netherlands and Denmark, were said to be “focused” on donating close to 200 older Leopard 1 battle tanks. But the issue of fighter jets was expected to be raised at the dinner in the French capital, according to diplomats, who said Ukraine’s long-term military plans and need for weaponry would be its focus.

An adviser to Mr Zelensky told The Daily Telegraph that securing additional weaponry, including fighter jets, from Europe was the “main reason” for the president’s trip to Europe.

Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper, rounded on Mr Scholz’s decision to fly to Paris to meet the Ukrainian president. The publication asked if Mr Zelensky was sending Mr Scholz, who dithered over whether to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, a message by forcing him to take a flight to shake hands.

France has said it may follow Britain’s lead and offer training to Kyiv’s pilots, a move that could eventually lead to it giving combat aircraft to Ukraine.

Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were also said to be supportive of moves to ramp up military support.

Mr Zelensky doubled down on his plea for fighter jets yesterday when he addressed the EU’S 27 leaders as part of an extraordinary European Council summit in Brussels. His decision to travel to London before holding talks with his EU allies in the Belgian capital was said to have focused minds. An Elysée official said: “It’s a very good thing that he is going to the UK.”

A second diplomatic source added: “Zelensky could never have showed up in Brussels before first acknowledging the role of the first European country to buttress the Ukrainian resistance.”

The Ukrainian president will deliver a speech to the bloc’s leaders in the European Council’s Europa building before holding separate bilateral discussions with his counterparts.

The moment, a rare honour for a foreign leader, will be significant for Ukraine given its defiant turn westwards during the Maidan protests in 2014.

But some fear Mr Zelensky’s demands for weapons could overshadow the meeting. “That’s not an EU issue, particularly because we have four neutral countries within the EU,” a senior bloc diplomat said.

Mr Zelensky told a French newspaper that Mr Macron had “changed” since saying last year that it was vital that Russia was not humiliated.