Europe’s damaging divisions over military aid to Ukraine - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
乌克兰战争

Europe’s damaging divisions over military aid to Ukraine

Nato allies need to do more to help Kyiv — by sending more weapons, not troops

Emmanuel Macron’s remark last week that sending western troops to Ukraine could not be ruled out was immediately slapped down by many European counterparts — notably German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Russia’s Vladimir Putin still seized on the French president’s statement to make his most explicit threat yet of nuclear conflict. On Tuesday, Macron said he stood by his comment, urging European allies not to be “cowards” now that “war is back on our soil”.

The French president’s underlying message — that Nato members must be ready to do more to help Ukraine against resurgent Russian forces — is well founded. But this should be by sending more arms, not troops. His public talk of boots on the ground has wrongfooted allies and laid bare strategic divisions, particularly with Germany, over military assistance to Kyiv — just when a united front is needed.

French officials said Macron’s talk of troops was intended to introduce some ambiguity for Moscow over what Nato members might be ready to do, and he was referring to western forces carrying out non-combat functions behind the Ukrainian front lines. The French leader has a point that Ukraine’s allies have for too long allowed Putin a monopoly on threats of escalation.

The problem is that many counterparts have legitimate concerns that even limited troop deployments would put Nato on the path to direct confrontation with Moscow. Though they have stressed the need to aid Kyiv and asked voters to bear higher energy costs, many western leaders — not just Scholz — will fear that any talk of sending soldiers could turn sentiment against the war. It plays, too, into Moscow’s bogus narrative that this is a Nato-provoked conflict. It might also be misread by a conspiracy-minded Kremlin as evidence that western leaders are, indeed, plotting something broader.

With US arms deliveries held up by political blocks, and continuing shortfalls in European production, the priority must be to ensure Ukraine receives the weaponry it needs this year. This covers everything from scarce artillery shells to cruise missiles, fighters and air defence. Recent mutual accusations by France and Germany that the other is not doing enough have some substance, but are a fruitless distraction.

Over the past week Macron appears, rightly, to have dropped objections to using EU funds to buy weaponry for Ukraine outside the block. His previous insistence that European cash should go only towards rebooting Europe’s defence industry has been overtaken by Ukraine’s urgent need. On Tuesday, he pledged that France would contribute to a Czech plan to buy 800,000 shells on the world market — and would allow the European Peace Facility, a joint EU fund, to finance part of it.

Scholz, for his part, should lift his opposition to sending Taurus missiles, which have a longer range than cruise missiles supplied by France and the UK and which Ukraine is crying out for. His objection that German support staff would have to accompany them to Ukraine was contradicted by military officers in a conversation that was embarrassingly eavesdropped on by Moscow. And though the chancellor worries Kyiv might use them to hit targets inside Russia, Ukraine has respected limits imposed by Britain and France on how it can use their missiles.

Perhaps Macron’s most striking statement was that the “defeat” of Russia in Ukraine was now “indispensable to security and stability in Europe”. From a leader who called in 2022 for the west to avoid “humiliating” Moscow — and who has gone out of his way to understand and reason with Putin — this is a salutary message. Kyiv’s allies need a strategy to achieve this goal, without leading to escalation that spirals out of control.

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

马斯克的企业将从他与特朗普的关系中获得什么?

世界首富马斯克现在对最有权势的领导人特朗普——以及美国政府——有着巨大影响力。

美俄就乌克兰战争举行和谈令欧洲感到震惊

被排除在和平谈判之外的欧洲盟国担心,他们将不得不为乌克兰的战后安全和重建买单。

特朗普停止反海外腐败法未必是美企福音

贝蒂:美国的《反海外腐败法》可能有助于、而不是阻碍了公平竞争。

该给孩子吃减肥药吗?

一场关于如何治疗儿童肥胖症的争论正在酝酿,一些人支持服用减肥药物,其他人则警告其可能对身体成长产生影响。

特朗普对美国国际开发署的攻击为世界其他地区敲响警钟

夏弗克:即使在特朗普政府攻击美国国际开发署之前,对国际援助进行反思的时机也已经成熟。

宝马押注油车并警告美国电动汽车转型如同“坐过山车”

德国豪华汽车制造商宝马将继续投资于内燃机和混合动力技术,同时发展纯电动汽车。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×