French President Emmanuel Macron has had talks with Germany’s Olaf Scholz in Berlin after a rift was exposed over Europe’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The French leader has warned the “security of Europe and the French is at stake” and if Russia wins, Europe’s credibility will be “reduced to zero”.
But Mr Scholz has been far more cautious, ruling out the deployment of Germany’s Taurus cruise missiles.
Ukraine faces a critical arms shortage.
The German chancellor has come under pressure to extend his government’s help, because a $60 billion US military aid package for Ukraine has been blocked in Congress by Republicans on the right.
According to the BBC, Germany remains Europe’s biggest source of military aid for Ukraine, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who joined the two leaders in Berlin later, said it was now up to their three countries to “mobilise all of Europe” to provide Ukraine with help.
Their meeting came as a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed at least 14 people and left 46 other wounded, according to the local governor. Among those killed and wounded were emergency medical teams.
