Germany, “one of the countries doing the most for Ukraine,” according to Scholz

Germany “one of the most profitable countriesTo help Ukraine militarily, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, defending German delays in supplying Kiev with arms, in an interview broadcast on CBS on Sunday.

These long delays in German weapons, compared to the speed with which they were delivered by Washington, are explained by the need to train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany in their use, he justified in an interview with the American TV channel on Thursday. The NATO summit in Madrid. “And if you consider that, (therefore) what we are sending after two, three, four weeks, you will see that Germany is one of the countries that is doing the most for “Ukraine” because what we are sending is the most advanced available. is the technologysaid the chancellor.

Since the start of the Russian offensive, Berlin has been accused of being hesitant, even unwilling, to supply Ukrainians with weapons, especially offensive ones, in order to preserve its relationship with Moscow. Some of the US weapons are being delivered less than 48 hours after Joe Biden signed the transfer, CBS reporter Margaret Brennan noted. But, Mr. Scholz replied, it was not reasonable to compare that to weeks or months of delay for Germany.

“You have to understand the difference with a country like the USA, which spends so much on its defense, it represents a very large investment, and you have a lot of weapons in stock. The mortars sent to Ukraine by many countries were not the most modern, but they were in stockhe assured, speaking in English. The German chancellor also considered that Vladimir Putin most likely has the means to sustainably continue his attack in Ukraine.

“I think that the decision to start this war was made a year before it started, or maybe even before that. And so he will be able to continue this war for a really long timesaid Olaf Scholz.