While hosting international leaders in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced new steps to boost Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, even floating the idea that Western ground troops might have to be deployed to defeat Moscow.
Our colleagues from RTL on Tuesday morning contacted Frieden to get his take on Macron’s announcement.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that the war is far from over, which is why a variety of steps were discussed in Paris on Monday. Nevertheless, a deployment of Western ground troops is not a viable option for Frieden, a position shared by many Western leaders.
Despite calls for Berlin to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles, the German government has so far refused the demand over concerns that the weaponry could also be used to strike Russian soil. When asked whether this position clashes with that of the French President, Frieden responded that it does not, arguing that all negotiating parties in Paris agreed that Russia cannot be allowed to win this war, as this would represent an existential threat for the collective safety of NATO members.
“That is why we have to do everything in our power to help Ukraine, which also includes supplying different types of weapons that we previously did not consider. From a Luxembourgish perspective, this means we must increase our financial efforts to purchase weaponry, as we don’t have an arms industry and cannot deliver weapons at a large scale”, explained Frieden.
The PM went on to say that the Grand Duchy has so far spent 0.6% of its GDP on humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine and that this will no longer suffice in the future. Due to the inability of providing weapons ourselves, Luxembourg is now considering jointly buying ammunition with the Czech Republic from third countries, according to Frieden.
In the US, meanwhile, the struggle between Democrats and Republicans over new defence aid for Ukraine continues as President Joe Biden is poised to meet with congressional representatives on Tuesday.
