BERLIN (ANSA) BERLIN, MARCH 23 Germany wants to supply more weapons to Ukraine: The Ministry of Defense has prepared the application to the Federal Security Council for 2,000 Bundeswehr rocket launchers. And Olaf Scholz, member of the Bundestag, turns to Kyiv again: “I can still hear the words of President Zelenskyj, who said: ‘We cannot survive without the help of the world’. I want to answer him today: Ukraine can trust in our help. However, the Chancellor’s red line does not and cannot change, he explains. In Parliament, Scholz outlined a clear scenario for the hypothesis of an immediate Russian energy halt: “If it happened overnight, Germany and Europe would end up in recession. Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be at risk, industry would be at the bottom of the fringe.” And in an interview with Die Zeit that will appear tomorrow, the Chancellor will be even more specific: “We’re not talking about wearing a thicker sweater in winter, as is ostensibly said. We’re talking about the fact that apartments, hospitals, senior citizens’ facilities and schools could no longer be heated and the industry could no longer be supplied with energy”. The tension in Berlin is so great that Economics Minister Robert Habeck reacted quickly to the news that Moscow would only continue to deliver for rubles and denounced the “breach of the contract”. A government source then clarifies that despite Germany’s best efforts to quickly achieve autonomy from Moscow, “this is a process that could take a few years rather than a few months”. And there is currently no concrete target or estimate of when Germany will no longer be under energy blackmail. With a view to tomorrow’s triple summit in Brussels, where the European Council, the G7 and the NATO summit will take place, Berlin also reaffirms its absolute rejection of the hypothesis of a nofly zone, “the risk of an incalculable escalation would be too high and cannot be accepted ,” says a government source; and also on the proposal for a NATO peacekeeping mission: “Both parties should agree and we don’t think that’s the case”.
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