German Foreign Minister urges her party to continue supporting Ukraine, including sending long-range weapons

Peace requires more than the absence of war, German Foreign Minister Baerbock told Green Party members while advocating continued Ukraine support.

Nov 16, 2024 - 12:00
German Foreign Minister urges her party to continue supporting Ukraine, including sending long-range weapons

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on her Green Party to maintain support for military assistance to Ukraine, Tagesschau reported on 15 November.

Concerns over Ukraine’s ability to hold the frontline defense line grew after Republican Trump won the 2024 US elections, claiming before that he’d end the war in Ukraine and cut off aid to the country.

Speaking at a party conference in Wiesbaden, Baerbock said that the Greens are a peace party “that knows a just and lasting peace is more than the absence of war.”

“We must protect Ukraine. Precisely because we are a strong democracy, and precisely because we are a party of peace,” Baerbock said.

The Foreign Minister called for preparing “another large, large security package” for Ukraine and advocated for “long-range weapons systems,” though she did not explicitly mention Taurus missiles.

The statement comes as Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently reaffirmed his reluctance to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles.

Berlin has been refusing to send Ukraine its Taurus missiles for months, despite Ukraine’s requests and appeals to other Western allies to allow deep strikes inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles. Last month, Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his belief that transferring Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is “wrong” and would trigger an “escalation,” implying the outbreak of a major war.

Opposition CDU leader Friedrich Merz supported delivering Taurus to Ukrainian forces, emphasizing that such deliveries would not make Germany a party to the war.

Read also:

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this. 

We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society.

A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support.

Become a Patron!