On Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that Russia would not win its war in Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin should not dictate the terms of any peace agreement.
According to Reuters, Russian
soldiers are attempting to gain full control of the eastern Donbas region and
have also advanced in the south, despite heavy Ukrainian resistance and tough
Western sanctions on Moscow, after failing to seize Ukraine's capital Kyiv or
its second city Kharkiv in their three-month-old war.
"Putin
must not win his war, and I am convinced he will not win," Scholz said in
a speech at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. "A
capture of the whole of Ukraine seems further away now than at the beginning of
the war."
Although
some have urged that Ukraine should engage with Putin and contemplate losing
land, Scholz is opposed to allowing Putin to dictate the parameters of a deal.
"There
will be no dictated peace," Scholz added. "Ukraine will not accept
this, and neither will we."
Putin
will only genuinely negotiate after he acknowledges that the war cannot be won,
he says, implying that continuous Western backing for Ukraine is critical.
Despite
specific requests from Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Davos on
Wednesday, Scholz did not address Ukrainian demands for the delivery of more
heavy weaponry to Kyiv.
Kyiv
has been trying to buy German Marder infantry fighting vehicles and, ideally, Leopard
main battle tanks, but hasn't made any progress with the German government,
according to Kuleba.
Hoping
to weaken Russia's economy and thus its ability to wage war, Scholz said
Germany would end imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022 and also reduce its
reliance on Russian gas.
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