LOS ANGELES.–Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky met with 69-year-old German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin to discuss the Ukraine War but more specifically Zelensky’s demand for German-made long-range Taurus missiles. Merz declared that the EU no longer considers range restrictions valid, opening the door up for Zelensky to start attacking targets deep inside the Russian Federation. President Donald Trump never approved Zelensky firing U.S. HIMIRS long-range rockets, despite former President Joe Biden loosenting the restrictions before he left office. Biden originally wanted Zelensky to confine his attacks on Russia to inside Ukraine but later acquiesce to growing demands to protect Ukraine’s homeland. Zelensky has been asking to lift range restrictions since the Feb. 24, 2022 start of the Ukraine War when he opted for war with the Kremlin.
Meeting with Merz in Berlin, Zelensky hopes to convince the German leader to grant his request for long-range Taurus missiles. Judging by a transcript of their meeting today in Berlin, Merz refused to say publicly that he was approving the use of Taurus missile defense systems. Merz said he preferred to keep it within the fog of “strategic ambiguity,” a military term to obfuscate what’s happening. But the fact that Zelensky traveled to Berlin, Merz obviously before the meeting was set up discussed the possible use of Taurus missiles when his predecessor was unwilling to escalate the Ukraine War. Scholz believed that giving Ukraine long-range missiles was not consistent with peacemaking. Yet Merz has been talking publicly about ending the range restrictions and allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside the Russian Federation, seen by Putin as an act of war.
As long as neither side goes to the peace table with the intent of ending the war, all bets are off for Putin. His strikes on Ukraine over last weekend that infuriated Trump came after he spent two hours with Trump on the phone agreeing to begin ceasefire talks in earnest. But all of what Putin hears from the EU is how French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are all frustrated by Putin’s refusal to meet with Putin directly. Putin takes a different approach to ceasefire and peace talks, believing all the details must be worked out first with advanced talks. Putting Putin and Zelensky in the same room when both sides have such divergent views of peace would not be good for a successful outcome. Zelensky couldn’t sit in the same room as Trump without throwing a fit and getting tossed out of the Oval Office.
Zelensky has been pushing Merz for more sanctions on the Kremlin, something Trump sees as killing the peace process. Merz’s change of tone from his predecessors former Chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz could not be more stark. Scholz expressed support for Ukraine but was not willing to give Zelensky German-made Taurus missiles. Merz knows that Merkel spent $12 billion building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring affordable natural gas from Russia to Germany for the foreseeable future. Merz talks like he ready to commit German troops to join Zelensky’s fight with the Kremlin. Whether he would do that or not is anyone’s guess. Merz backs more European defense spending something Russian President Sergei Lavrov called “very worrying.” Saying that Putin sees peace talks as a sign of weakness, Merz continues to provoke Putin into more aggressive action.
Germany has taken a more aggressive approach with Putin accusing the Russian leader of avoiding peace talks. “Obviously [he] sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness” said Merz, making his case publicly for more forceful ways to bring Putin to the peace table. Trump has the best relationship of all Western world leaders, not inclined to twist his arm. Trump sees sanctions and threat of giving Zelensky Taurus missles the exact wrong approach for peace talks. Trump had worked on a peace plan that would work for the Russian Federation. It would involve agreeing to exclude for the foreseeable future Ukraine joining NATO. It also calls for the EU and NATO to stop funding and supplying lethal weapons to Kiev. One major sticking point is Zelensky’s refusal to cede territory that Putin has seized in over three years of war, essentially ending realistic peace talks.
Zelensky and the EU have taken the exact wrong approach by threatening Putin with more sanctions and giving Ukraine more lethal weapons. Merz said recently that Western powers have removed any range-restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to strike deep inside the Russian Federation. Putin has said in the past that striking inside the Russian homeland would be seen as an act of war, holding any state responsible for supplying Zelensky long-range weapons. Whether Merz agreed to give Ukraine Taurus missiles or not, he’s certainly made his position clear that he’s not opposed to it. Saying he would maintain strategic ambiguity hints at his decision to arm Zelensky with long-range Taurus missiles. Threatening Putin is no way to enter ceasefire or peace talks, especially after hitting the Kremlin with more sanctions. Someone needs give Merz a diplomacy lesson.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
