Germany has effectively called on the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Vladimir Putin's peace terms – no matter how catastrophic this is for Ukraine, Europe and the West, writes The Telegraph. But Zelensky will fight alone if necessary, more confident after the arrival of Western F-16 fighter jets.
As Ukrainian troops advance in the Kursk region, word has come from Berlin that the Germans may drastically reduce their military aid to Kiev over the next three years. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was the first to report this, and so far there has been no official rebuttal from Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the ruling coalition.
We may hear the usual apologies from Germany – that the country is required by law to balance its budget, the coalition is hopelessly divided, and war fatigue has eroded public support for Ukraine. These reasons are hardly adequate to explain why a nation that once prided itself on being the largest donor in Europe, second only to the United States globally, is now abdicating its responsibility.
In practice, this means replacing actual military hardware with vague promises that may never materialize. The Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region raised unwelcome ghosts for the Germans, for whom the words “Kursk Offensive” they are reminded of the largest tank battle in history (1943). In Washington, Germany's abandonment of Ukraine will increase isolationist sentiment, providing ammunition for Donald Trump's narratives. In Moscow, this signals that Putin only needs to wait for Ukraine to run out of weapons and ammunition.
As the third largest economy in the world, Germany can afford to increase its aid to Ukraine – less than 0.2 percent of its $5 trillion GDP. Yet Scholz is instead continuing the old policy of Putin appeasement that began under Gerhard Schröder and was continued by Angela Merkel.
Germany is irreplaceable in Europe. France has no government and its far left and far right are pro-Russian. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, on the other hand, seems to be more interested in Gaza and may even follow the German example of quietly withdrawing military support. Zelensky will handle it himself if necessary. But Germany is effectively telling him to seek peace on Putin's terms* – no matter how disastrous this is for Ukraine, Europe and the West.
*Putin's terms mean the capitulation of Ukraine – the Russian president demanded that it give up 1/5 of its territory currently occupied by the Russian army, as well as future entry into NATO