MUNICH — European leaders showed unity on Friday, emphasizing their support for Ukraine against Russian aggression while exploring possible negotiating avenues to end the conflict.
Meeting at the Munich Security Conference, a global security and foreign policy forum, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged their continued support for Ukraine but signaled that they have no intention of supplying Kiev with new weapons systems.
Mr Macron said the time for peace was not yet and that Russia must not win the war, but he warned that without a negotiated settlement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, there would be no lasting peace – something Kiev has ruled out .
Live Questions and Answers
Russia’s War in Ukraine: One Year Anniversary
As the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine approaches, join us on Tuesday, February 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET for a discussion with Gordon Fairclough, WSJ’s director of world reporting and chief foreign affairs correspondent , Yaroslav Trofimov, about what awaits us this year two of the war.
“Russia will remain part of the European continent… we must show determination, but also continue dialogue whenever possible,” Macron said.
Speaking to Mr Macron, Mr Scholz said: “I think it is wise to prepare for a long war and it is wise to send the message to Putin that we are ready to stay with Ukraine all the time.” At the same time, Herr said Scholz said Germany would “do more of what we’ve already done,” and dismissed calls from Ukraine to send jet fighters to the country.
Mr. Scholz reiterated his previous position that avoiding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization being drawn into direct conflict with Russia was one of his key objectives.
The comments come amid what Western officials believe was a crucial time in the war. They believe Russia has launched a fresh offensive in parts of Ukraine to break a months-long standoff in which both sides have suffered heavy casualties with few territorial gains or losses.
The Munich conference comes days before the anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and a visit by President Biden to Poland on that anniversary.
In a sign of possible exhaustion of Western military support to Ukraine, a European initiative to bring Western main battle tanks to Kiev is struggling to launch, dampening hopes that the tanks could be used to repel the Russian attack.
French and German officials said on Friday the two countries would support existing weapons systems they had sent to Ukraine but insisted there would be no further escalation in the type of military hardware they were supplying – a refutation of Kiev’s pleas for Western fighter jets.
A French official said Paris would send more howitzers and light tanks but had no plans to send heavy tanks or jets – hardware that could be used to attack Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on the screen on Friday ahead of the Munich Security Conference.
Photo: Anna Szilagyi/EPA/Shutterstock
British officials have said they are reviewing Ukraine’s request for jet fighters and have pledged to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly them in the spring. However, British officials are signaling that these may apply to Ukraine’s post-war defenses rather than the current war.
In a speech on Saturday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to urge Ukraine’s allies to double their military supplies to Ukraine in the coming weeks to help Ukraine launch a spring counter-offensive.
He will also advocate a new framework to ensure Ukraine’s long-term security, including a new NATO charter that promises Ukraine the military support it needs to protect the country from future Russian aggression.
“We must do more to strengthen Ukraine’s long-term security,” he said, according to his office. “We need to give them the advanced NATO-standard capabilities they need for the future.”
Subscribe to Newsletter
What’s new
Catch the headlines, understand the news and make better decisions, every day for free in your inbox.
Meanwhile, political disagreements are looming in Washington, as in some European capitals, over how far and how long the West can continue to provide financial and military support to Ukraine, despite Mr Putin’s unwillingness to settle the conflict.
Mr Scholz said the first German-made Leopard tanks should arrive in Ukraine “very soon” with German forces currently training Ukrainian soldiers on how to use them.
The chancellor approved the tanks’ shipment last month, giving neighboring countries the option to transfer Leopard tanks from their own stocks to Ukraine. But few have said they would do so, despite repeated requests from Mr Scholz to join the initiative.
As a result, the original plan to send two battalions of Leopard tanks was temporarily abandoned, these officials said.
When asked why the tank shipment was faltering, Mr. Scholz said it was a question for executives who had previously urged him to issue a license to export the tanks but have since been unable to give one.
“I hope more will join,” he said.
He also said the West needs to focus on “permanent production” of the key weapons used in the war – including ammunition, which Ukraine is fast running out of and the West is struggling to manufacture on a large scale.
A suspected Russian coup plot, a government collapse and a breakaway region run by pro-Russian separatists: Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova has become the latest flashpoint in the war with Russia, suggesting hostilities could spread beyond Ukraine. Picture: Daniel Orton
French officials said that as part of any peace settlement in Ukraine there must be guarantees for Ukraine, but also openness to a serious dialogue with Moscow about a permanent security structure in Europe.
“The question is how do we make the new normal acceptable to them and sustainable to all of us,” he said. Mr Macron also dismissed talks that the West should seek regime change in the Kremlin.
“I don’t believe [for] one second in regime change,” he said, calling Western efforts to topple unfriendly regimes in recent years “a total failure.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you pay attention to at the Munich Security Conference? Join the conversation below.
At the beginning of the conference, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking via video conference, recalled his visit to Munich a year ago, almost on the eve of the war. He said he regretted that Western support only poured into his country “after the Russian tanks started moving”.
Mr. Zelenskyy said Mr. Putin is counting on continued Western military and financial support for Ukraine, which is coming too slowly while his troops try to gain ground on the battlefield. He appealed to his allies to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“There is no alternative to speed because speed is what lives depend on,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader said he thought the likelihood of Belarus going to war directly alongside Russia was “fairly slim” due to widespread opposition to the war in the country. And he reiterated his country’s long-term goals of joining the European Union and becoming a member of NATO.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at [email protected] and Laurence Norman at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8