Germany’s Scholes condemns ‘bidding war’ on jets for Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine War News

The president’s comments followed repeated requests by Ukrainian politicians for fighter jets after promising tanks for the war against Russia.

President Olaf Scholes has again pushed back against demands by German and Ukrainian officials for fighter jets to repel a Russian invasion, urging Western countries not to join a “bidding war” for sophisticated weapons.

After weeks of pressure from NATO and European Union allies, Germany announced last week that it would deliver its Panther 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

“We have only made one decision [on sending tanks] Already the next discussion [fighter jets] Shootings in Germany – it seems frivolous and undermines people’s trust in government decisions,” Scholz said. An interview Sunday with the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.

“I can only advise against entering into a bidding war over weapons systems.”

Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, has pushed for Germany’s dozens of Tornado fighter jets and urged the international community to join a “fighter jet alliance” for his country.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky again asked Western countries to provide his country with more advanced weapons systems in his daily address on Saturday. Zelenskyy specifically mentioned the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

“There can be no restrictions on the supply of weapons to protect against Russian terrorism,” the Ukrainian president said.

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Russia last week condemned the delivery of NATO battle tanks to Ukraine, saying it was “direct and growing” evidence of US and European involvement in the war.

Keep talking to Putin

The German leader said he would continue to phone Russian President Vladimir Putin and stress the importance of maintaining an open channel of communication to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Schales said the tone of the conversations was “not uncharacteristic, but our perspectives were completely different.”

“I will keep calling Putin – because we need to keep talking to each other,” he said.

The last phone call to Putin was in early December. The Russian leader said at the time that the German and Western line on Ukraine was “disastrous” and called on Berlin to reconsider its approach.

Schalls said the talks often talked about “concrete issues” such as prisoner exchanges, Ukrainian grain exports and the fate of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

“For me, it’s important that the conversations come back to the core: How does the world get out of this terrible situation? The condition for that is clear: the withdrawal of Russian troops,” Scholz said in the interview.

There is no ‘increase’

Scholz also warned against dragging NATO into war with Moscow.

“A German president takes his oath of office seriously and must do everything to ensure that Russia’s war against Ukraine does not turn into a war between Russia and NATO,” he stressed.

The Leopard 2 announcement, shortly followed by the U.S. promise of M1 Abrams tanks to Kiev, angered the Kremlin.

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“As of now, there are no talks of an agreement [with Scholz] In the table. Putin is open to contacts,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany is the second largest supplier of military hardware to Ukraine after the United States, ahead of other European powers such as France and Britain.

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