What Happened?
In early March, German Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz had been talking to Luftwaffe Officers about Britain and France donating new Storm Shadow Missiles. He also said that British Troops are “on the ground” in Ukraine. A Military leak in April 2023 showed a handful of NATO Special Forces troops in Ukraine, with the UK supplying the most at 50 Soldiers.
In the April 2023 leak, it did not explicitly mention what roles these soldiers were undertaking, but 10 Downing Street had stated previously that troops were there to train Ukrainian Soldiers in first aid. After the German leak of British intelligence, Rishi Sunak confirmed a “small number” of British Troops in Ukraine.
A small British presence in Ukraine does not come as a shock as the UK has given £7.1 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine since February 2022. Ukranian troops have come to the UK to be trained by the British Armed Forces on weapons like Challenger 2 Tanks, Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles, and Javelin anti-tank Weapons. David Cameron said that 60,000 Ukranian troops have trained in the UK.
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Weapon Shortages
Currently, Ukrainian forces have a significant shortage of ammunition. This shortage includes forms of air defence missiles, Artillery shells, and shells in general. Such a shortage means that Russian forces have pushed the frontline in Ukraine with Ukrainian forces fleeing weak areas.
The German Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz was talking to Luftwaffe Officers via an unencrypted software called WebEx. They were discussing Germany sending Taurus Missiles to Ukraine, shortly. Taurus Missiles are the German equivalent of the British Storm Shadow Missiles.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz has openly expressed his opinion that Germany should not send Taurus missiles. He says they have a range greater than 500 Kilometers and would be able to reach Moscow.
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Hypothetical Ukrainian Strikes with German Taurus weapons would make Germany more invested than they currently are. Germany has an election next year in October 2025. Any Significant weapon aid may be perceived by Olaf Schulz and the Social Democratic Party as a re-election obstacle when the time comes.
Following Macron’s suggestion to deploy NATO troops to Ukraine, in his “Strategic Ambiguity Plan”. Both Olaf Schulz and Rishi Sunak fully oppose sending NATO troops into Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a meeting in Berlin, on the 15th and 16th of March to discuss future military aid for Ukraine.
Pledges from Germans and Polish to send Weapons
Germany and Poland are some of the largest donors to Ukraine’s military, behind the United States. The three countries have effectively pledged to escalate the Ukraine conflict with them all pledging to further supply Ukraine with more artillery, build weapons factories in Ukraine, and send over Military Instructors. Olaf Schulz wants to raise European Union funding for Ukraine by €5 billion.
He intends to achieve this by using interest income on Russian funds from oil and gas sales to the European Union that are frozen, due to EU sanctions, to pay for this rise in expenditure. Many see this pledge as an act of international theft.
Image belongs to Copyright Holder. Image – https://www.afp.com/en/news-hub Gonzalo Fuentes
Despite this meeting which is meant to show German, Polish, and French solidarity with Ukraine, there is a growing sentiment in these countries to reduce aid sent to Ukraine and to instead focus on growing the economy of these respective countries. Many EU countries have had agricultural protests over climate policies and cheap agricultural goods from Ukraine.
Whether the West continues to support Ukraine or after 2 years of aid, their solidarity with Ukraine is faltering. Only time will tell what Europe and the European Union decide to do.
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