BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday urged European nations to step up weapons pledges to Ukraine, raising the spectre that help from biggest contributor United States could fall away.
“Europe must do more to support Ukraine in the defense of its own country,” Scholz told Die Zeit weekly in an interview.
“The contributions that European nations have earmarked for 2024 so far are not big enough,” he added.
He urged them to discuss how each country could “significantly expand the support” to Kyiv.
The chancellor also said he was “rather irritated” that Germany was constantly being criticized for not doing enough, when it was already “doing more than all other EU nations — much, much more.”
Ukraine has been pleading for more ammunition and armaments in its fight against Russian troops. Among the weapons Kyiv is seeking are Taurus cruise missiles, which Germany has so far declined to provide.
Nevertheless, Germany accounts for more than half of Europe’s known weapon deliveries to Ukraine.
But it would be “hubris to think that we can do this alone in the long term,” said Scholz.
“It would not be good news if Germany, should the US drop off as a supporter, were to become the biggest supporter of Ukraine at the end,” he said, adding that “we are, as (former chancellor) Helmut Schmidt once said, only a medium-sized power.”
In a phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, Scholz underlined Germany’s “continued and unwavering solidarity with Ukraine” and promised to keep up military support for Kyiv, according to the German leader’s spokesman.
President Joe Biden has made backing Ukraine a priority and US weapons and financial assistance have been crucial in helping the pro-Western country battle against a far larger attacking Russian force.
But opposition Republicans have led a push to halt the effort, refusing to authorize new budget outlays unless the Democrats first agree to sweeping, tough new measures against illegal migration.
With the US in an election year that could again pit Biden against Donald Trump, Zelensky has warned that a Trump return to the White House would likely bring a “different policy” on the war.
Scholz warns EU weapons support for Ukraine ‘not big enough’
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Scholz warns EU weapons support for Ukraine ‘not big enough’
- “Europe must do more to support Ukraine in the defense of its own country,” Scholz told Die Zeit weekly
- “The contributions that European nations have earmarked for 2024 so far are not big enough”
‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nukes, climate change, AI
- At the end of the Cold War, the clock was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds
WASHINGTON: Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the US and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist members had an initial demonstration on Friday and then announced their results on Tuesday.
The scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending.
Last year the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight.
Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.
They worry about the threat of escalating conflicts involving nuclear-armed countries, citing the Russia-Ukraine war, May’s conflict between India and Pakistan and whether Iran is capable of developing nuclear weapons after strikes last summer by the US and Israel.
International trust and cooperation is essential because, “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group also highlighted droughts, heat waves and floods linked to global warming, as well as the failure of nations to adopt meaningful agreements to fight global warming — singling out US President Donald Trump’s efforts to boost fossil fuels and hobble renewable energy production.
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity.
At the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
