German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been accused of divulging details of British aid to Ukrainian forces, The Independent informs.
Scholz stated that his country would not send Taurus, the German analogue of the Storm Shadow missile, to Kyiv, pointing to the risk of being drawn into a military conflict, referring to British and French aid to Ukraine. He also claimed on Monday that German soldiers could not follow the example of their British and French allies in “the way of target control and accompanying target control.”
Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the Commons defence committee, argued that Scholz’s reasoning would “no doubt be used by Russia to racket up the escalator ladder.”
This is a flagrant abuse of intelligence deliberately designed to distract from Germany’s reluctance to arm Ukraine with its own long-range missile system.
Kyiv’s need for long-range weapons such as Storm Shadow and Taurus cruise missiles has been reiterated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who admits his troops are running out of ammunition.
Last week, German lawmakers called on the government to supply Ukraine with additional long-range weapons, but voted against an opposition initiative calling for sending long-range Taurus cruise missiles. The unspecified wording allowed German lawmakers to speculate on whether sending aid includes Taurus missiles or not. Norbert Rottgen, a senior lawmaker from the CDU, stated:
“The chancellor’s statement regarding France and Britain’s alleged involvement in operating long-range cruise missiles used in Ukraine is completely irresponsible.”
Previously, the German chancellor openly clashed with French President Emmanuel Macron and refused to consider the idea of any deployment of NATO or Western soldiers in the war in Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak confirmed on Tuesday that the UK government had a “small number” of soldiers stationed in Ukraine, but added that Britain had no plans for a large-scale deployment in the war-torn country.
Beyond the small number of personnel we do have in the country supporting the armed forces of Ukraine, we haven’t got any plans for large-scale deployment.
