Heavy artillery, air defence, drones: NATO is scraping together everything that can help Ukraine in its defense against Russia. Moscow responded with a warning that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The very location of this meeting is a message that cannot be surpassed in terms of clarity.
It is no coincidence that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin received allies from more than 30 countries at the largest US military base in Europe on Tuesday to discuss aid for Ukraine.
Around 15,000 US soldiers and civilians work at the Air Force base in Ramstein, Palatinate. It is considered the most important hub for US operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “America’s aircraft carrier in Germany”, the base is also called.
The meeting takes place in a windowless room in the Officers’ Club adjacent to the US Air Force Europe Headquarters. In addition to numerous defense ministers, top military officers have come, such as US Chief of Staff Mark Milley or the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces in Europe, General Tod Wolters. Police are on the way to the base, roadblocks, armored vehicles and soldiers with submachine guns are clearly posted around and on the premises. Flags of the participating countries line the access road.
Austin: “Winning the Battle Against Russia’s Unjust Invasion”
Host Austin was in Kyiv just the day before with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pledge additional $322 million worth of arms and $165 million in ammunition to Ukraine. “We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can no longer do the kind of things it did by invading Ukraine,” the defense minister said. A pithy announcement from the Ukrainian capital in the direction of Moscow.
In the Ramstein, the USA now wants to demonstrate military solidarity for the defense of Ukraine with its NATO allies and beyond. “We are here to help Ukraine win the battle against Russia’s unjust invasion and build Ukraine’s defenses for tomorrow’s challenges,” Austin said at the opening.
Lambrecht: «The cheetah is exactly what Ukraine needs now»
Also present is Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), who, together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has had to put up with accusations of hesitation and hesitation in the Ukraine war for weeks. It was clear from the start that she would not appear there empty-handed. Right at the start of the conference, she announced something that many allies, especially in Eastern Europe, have been waiting for for a long time: Germany will not only support the delivery of heavy weapons from other countries, but will also deliver them itself. First of all, Cheetah anti-aircraft tanks from the armory Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), which were retired by the Bundeswehr years ago.
“The cheetah is exactly what Ukraine needs now to secure the airspace from the ground,” says Lambrecht. “If Ukraine urgently needs such air defense systems now, we are ready to support them.”
It took the federal government a long time to come to this decision. Last week, Scholz practically ruled out the delivery of heavy weapons from Bundeswehr stocks. The so-called ring exchange – the provision of replacements for the delivery of Soviet-designed weapons from other countries – was initially considered the German way of providing tanks or artillery. So only about gang. It was not yet clear whether German industry would be allowed to supply heavy weapons. Now it has been answered – with a resounding yes.
Lavrov: «The danger is serious, real»
It is no coincidence that Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accompanied the Ramstein meeting with an interview on Moscow state television and a press conference in the presence of UN chief António Guterres. Even before Austin, Lambrecht and Co. begin their deliberations, he sends a clear warning to the Palatinate. “The danger is serious, real,” he says. And: “We should not allow the third world war.” Lavrov accuses NATO of waging a proxy war against Russia. “With these arms deliveries, they want the Ukrainians to fight with Russia to the last soldier.”
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has also accused the US of using Ukraine as a tool to put pressure on Russia to bring the country to its knees. Putin’s chief diplomat, however, emphasizes that Russian troops in Ukraine see Western weapons as a “legitimate target”. The Russian Ministry of Defense reports daily that warehouses with weapons and ammunition supplied by the West are also being destroyed.
Lavrov complains that the US is trying to “defeat” Russia. And he accuses the West of preferring to decide the battle on the field. “If things continue like this, the negotiations are unlikely to produce any results.” Russia has long since put its nuclear weapons on high alert. And Lavrov now expressly points out that there is no longer a direct line between Moscow and Washington to communicate in an emergency. That was different during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the two world powers, the USA and the Soviet Union, were on the brink of nuclear war. “Now there is no such channel and no one is trying to create it.”
Scholz also warned of World War III
Chancellor Scholz will not be surprised by Lavrov’s statements. He, too, had warned of a nuclear war, a Third World War, in a “Spiegel” interview last week. He described preventing the war from spreading to NATO as the top priority of his Ukraine policy – and thus indirectly justified his reluctance to deliver weapons. “I’m doing everything to prevent an escalation that leads to a third world war,” he said. Just how far you can go in supporting Ukraine without escalating is a question that is difficult to answer with an unpredictable counterpart like Putin.
Source: Stern
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