Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has categorically rejected the French president’s suggestion
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen (L) with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Helsinki, Finland, March 8, 2024. © Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP
Discussions about NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine need to end, because nobody actually wants that to happen, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday.
Pistorius was in Finland to visit the German troops taking part in NATO’s Nordic Response wargames in the Arctic Circle. While there, he held a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Antti Hakkanen.
“Nobody really wants to have boots on the ground in Ukraine,” Pistorius said, responding to a question about recent remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting that the matter was open-ended.
Discussions about that “should stop,” he added.
“Nobody is now supporting ‘boots on the ground’,” Hakkanen agreed.
Macron said last week that no option should be ruled out, including ground troops, because Russia can’t be allowed to win. Only two Baltic states endorsed the idea, however, with most other NATO members publicly denouncing it.
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Pistorius argued that what the West needs to do instead is ramp up the delivery of ammunition and equipment to the Ukrainian military.
“Germany is the second-largest supporter of Ukraine world wide,” donating €7.5 billion ($8.2 billion) this year alone, Pistorius noted, adding that Berlin has sent “air defense, artillery, ammunition, what[ever] Ukraine needs.”
Addressing questions about Germany’s decision not to send Ukrainie its long-range Taurus missiles, Pistorius said that would be a step too far.
“We always emphasize that long-range missiles won’t decide that war,” he told reporters, adding that Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said “there is one decisive line we never will cross, and this is being participants, being party to the war.”
Last week, RT published an audio recording and a transcript of a conversation between senior German Luftwaffe (air force) officers from mid-February, in which they discussed the use of Taurus missiles to destroy the Crimean Bridge. The generals assumed the missiles would be delivered and tried to come up with ways of helping Ukraine use them while maintaining plausible deniability.
Russia has repeatedly warned the US and its allies that deliveries of weapons to Ukraine will not prevent Moscow from achieving the goals of its military operation, and will only serve to prolong the fighting and increase the risk of a direct confrontation with NATO.
