Citing the EU’s decision to allocate more funding for Ukraine at the extraordinary European Council summit last week, the German chancellor urged the U.S. Congress to do its part to defend Ukraine by green-lighting the further aid proposed by Biden.
Scholz said congressional approval of the aid package would “send the right message to the Russian president that his hopes are in vain, that he simply has to wait long enough for the support of Ukraine’s friends in Europe, North America and elsewhere to wane.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, said the defense alliance needs to improve its military capabilities and be prepared for a decades-long conflict with Russia.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin “wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread to other countries,” Stoltenberg warned in an interview with German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag.
“We have to prepare ourselves for a confrontation that could last decades,” he said. “We need to restore and expand our industrial base more quickly so that we can increase deliveries to Ukraine and replenish our own stocks,” Stoltenberg said.
Germany’s Scholz, asked about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and Israel’s planned offensive in Rafah, said that the Israeli government needed to conduct military operations in a balanced manner. “I have already said it very precisely: the type of warfare must meet the demands that Israel makes on itself, but which are also imposed by international law,” Scholz said.