CDU Bundestag member Roderich Kiesewetter is calling for Ukraine to be given the military means to restore its own borders and push back Russia’s invasion. “We are partly responsible for the fact that we basically abandoned Ukraine diplomatically for many years, starting in 2014, because we were not prepared to arm it militarily,” said Kiesewetter as a studio guest on Markus Lanz’s ZDF program on Wednesday evening. “We waited too long.” The victims of these decisions that were not made are the victims of today.
He believes it is right that after two years, Germany is no longer prepared to support Ukraine for another ten years. However, this would mean that more would have to be done to end this war.
That is why the foreign policy goal must be changed: support for Ukraine should not take place “as long as it is possible or necessary”, but “as quickly as possible, as much as possible”. So that Ukraine can restore its borders and Russia recognizes the right of its neighboring states to exist.
Up until now, the voices in Germany have always been very loud, criticizing that continued support for Ukraine is bringing the war to Germany. However, this message is causing great uncertainty among the population, said Kiesewetter. “We only ever talk about what we should not do. Putin can always escalate things so that we de-escalate – that is his strategy: to make us feel insecure. And someone like Sahra Wagenknecht is trying to reap the rewards of this disinformation in Germany,” the CDU politician continued.
In fact, it must be clear to everyone: “We are Russia’s war target. And our goal must be – and I completely agree with Olaf Scholz here – we must not become a party to the war. But we will become a party to the war if Ukraine disintegrates, Moldova is attacked, and mass exodus occurs.”
He cited statements by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin as examples of this assumption. In November, for example, the Russian president said of Germany: “We are enemies.” Kiesewetter also includes the murder of Ukrainian soldiers in Bavaria and the Tiergarten murder in Berlin. “We were always very cautious, we didn’t even summon the ambassador. We are always very cautious. And Putin knows he can treat us like that. That’s why we need a little more diplomacy and toughness.”
Kiesewetter also criticized the fact that it took Germany a long time to see that Russia was not fighting alone, but in close cooperation with China, Iran and North Korea. “But we only focused on Russia,” said Kiesewetter. A form of burden-sharing is taking place among these states. “That’s why we were too weak in the sanctions,” said Kiesewetter. This false assumption also led to Germany ordering far too little military equipment when Russia began its invasion. “Self-deterrence led to us doing too little. And now we’re at a point: If we carry on like this, Ukraine will not survive.”
