‘Europe is bracing for Ukraine’s defeat’, – Süddeutsche Zeitung

The new meeting of EU foreign ministers dedicated to Ukraine will take place without any good news: the failure of the Ukrainian offensive, defense problems, and the lack of American funding due to the congressional blockade.

Many EU countries “fear that the Ukrainians may lose” and are no longer willing to “invest in a losing war,” according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The publication notes that Berlin is one of the few trying to oppose such sentiments and makes serious accusations against France.

The German outlet repeats that the offensive has failed, “Ukrainian defenders are desperately trying to hold their defense against the advancing forces,” and assistance from Ukraine’s main ally, the United States, is not expected anytime soon.

“Therefore, in Europe, there is a fear that the Ukrainians may lose the war this year or, at least, face serious difficulties.” Citing a “high-ranking representative of the European government,” the German newspaper reports that Kyiv has stopped providing Brussels with reliable information and instead tries to instill optimism “out of fear of strengthening those in the West who argue that it is necessary to stop investing in a losing war.”

German diplomats want to once again advocate for assistance to Ukraine at the meeting, as they believe that other EU countries, especially France, Italy, and Spain, only support Ukraine in words but not in action because they do not believe in Kyiv’s prospects.

“The gap between the sometimes pompous pro-Ukrainian rhetoric of Paris and the tangible contribution of France to achieving this goal, measured in euros, is significant,” Süddeutsche Zeitung quotes the official position of Berlin.

A similar opinion is shared in Brussels: “The Germans promised to allocate eight billion euros for this year, the Dutch – two and a half billion,” says an EU official, “but we have never heard anything like this from France.”

Paris is blamed for the failure of the promised ammunition for artillery to Kyiv because France insisted that only projectiles produced in Europe, an industry incapable of handling such a volume of work, could be purchased with EU funds.

“The French government is outraged by such accusations,” Süddeutsche Zeitung points out, but today, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Brussels and Emmanuel Macron in Berlin will have to respond to them.