According to Chancellor Scholz, aid for Ukraine should be better coordinated. It is also about building an army that can defend its country permanently. Berlin could take on a leading role for some of the military capabilities.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out in favor of better coordination of armaments aid for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. “Together with the Netherlands, we have therefore launched an initiative aimed at a permanent and reliable division of labor between all partners in Ukraine,” said the SPD politician in a speech at Prague’s Charles University. “I can imagine, for example, that Germany will take on special responsibility for building up Ukrainian artillery and air defense. We should quickly agree on such a system of coordinated support.”
Scholz continued: “Our goal is modern Ukrainian armed forces that can defend their country permanently. But we can’t just deliver to Kyiv what we can do without ourselves.” It needs “more planning and coordination”.
At the same time, he announced an international conference of experts to be held in Berlin on October 25 to discuss the reconstruction of Ukraine. Scholz once again assured Ukraine of permanent help. “We will maintain this support, reliably and for as long as necessary,” said the head of government. “That applies to the reconstruction of the devastated country, which will take generations to achieve.” The Chancellor emphasized that this requires international coordination and a clever, resilient strategy. That is what the expert conference should be about, to which Scholz says he is inviting together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.