It was Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, who made the difference in “Anne Will”. In the almost customary debate of the German politicians present, whether Germany was supplying enough arms to his country, he introduced the whole cruel drama of the situation: If the Europeans thought that Ukraine would capitulate in the face of a defeat in the war with Russia, then ” we will fight with shovels”. He prefaced this sentence with a warning that the less the West would support Ukraine against Russian aggression, the sooner that moment would come.
Then, at 10:20 p.m., Kuleba had to say goodbye to the show – for security reasons. Not that the talk show had come to an end, not that, but its dimension had shrunk considerably. EU President Ursula von der Leyen, who joined the Berlin studio like the Foreign Minister, addressed the topic of “Solidarity with Ukraine – what are Germany and Ukraine ready for?” at the opening of “Anne Will”. made their own. She was very confident that the forthcoming EU summit would grant Ukraine candidate status. And made it very clear that it will only depend on Ukraine how long the review process will last. Not all criteria – keyword independent judiciary – have been met for a long time. After that, von der Leyen said goodbye to the group, which unfortunately also meant goodbye to the EU aspect.
Remaining in the group: Michael Müller, who represents the SPD in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Johann David Wadephul, Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group for Foreign Affairs and Defense, the journalist Christoph Schwennicke, and finally the political scientist and security expert Claudia Major. Moderator Anne Will focused the questions on whether Germany was finally doing enough to support Ukraine, especially after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Kyiv. Wadephul: no. Müller: What options does Germany have? Schwennicke: Somewhere in between.
What Dmytro Kuleba had also said should have ringed in the ears of the discussants and especially Müller: The later the weapons arrive, the more deaths there will be. Will also tried to fuel the debate with the statistics, according to which Germany was only eighth among the arms suppliers.
Before the men’s department could completely lose itself in the party-political undergrowth, Claudia Major ensured a clear view. She differentiated what would happen if the Russians conquered more areas after winning the Donbass: Then Ukraine would be finished, a sovereign state would have disappeared, the West and Europe would have an even bigger problem with the triumphant Putin. That’s why the commitment has to get bigger and bigger now and over time.
If the Foreign Minister of Ukraine had still been a participant in this “Anne Will” issue, he could have gained the feeling that his appeals had been understood. Then this is the situation: the Russian artillery is 15 times superior to the Ukrainian one.
