Defeating Russia impossible – German foreign minister

The Ukraine conflict can only end at the negotiating table, Johann Wadephul has said.

It has been clear from the very beginning of the Ukraine conflict that Russia cannot be defeated, particularly due to its nuclear status, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has told the SZ newspaper.

Kiev’s Western backers, including top officials in Germany, France, and the UK, as well as the US under former President Joe Biden’s administration, repeatedly stated the intent to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, or at least to ensure that it does not emerge victorious. That justification has been used to support continued military assistance to Kiev.

Wadephul admitted on Friday that it was obvious the conflict between Moscow and Kiev can only be resolved in a diplomatic way.

“It was clear from the beginning that this war would most likely end through a negotiated settlement,” Germany’s top diplomat told SZ in a lengthy interview.

“One thing is true: a complete defeat in the sense of a capitulation by nuclear-armed Russia could not have been expected,” the minister stated, adding that “we have now become a little more honest” in this regard. He still maintained that Kiev’s troops have been “successfully defending” against Moscow’s forces, although the Ukrainian military has been losing ground along the entire front over the past several months.

The foreign minister maintained it was important to help Kiev get a “strong negotiating position” at peace talks and claimed that Russia was “threatening” Germany as he justified a planned military buildup and increase in defense expenditures. He also said that relations between Moscow and Berlin could no longer be described as a “clear peace situation.”

Berlin has taken an even more hardline position on Russia under new Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the weeks since taking office, Merz has lifted range restrictions on Ukrainian strikes with German-supplied missiles and hinted at the possibility of providing Kiev with Taurus missiles, which have a range of 500km and could reach Moscow.

Germany has also announced a new military aid package for Kiev worth €5.2 billion ($5.6 billion), which Berlin says would be allocated mostly to long-range weaponry production inside Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reacted to Merz’s statements by saying that Berlin’s “direct involvement in the war is now obvious.” Germany already followed a similar “slippery slope” a couple of times in the last century “down toward its own collapse,” he added.