With its counter-offensive, Ukraine was able to recapture some areas.
(Photo: Reuters)
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is more successful than many expected. Thus, the Russian army was pushed back in some parts of the country. The letters from Handelsblatt readers give a mixed picture when assessing the most recent successes.
There are some who speak of a “psychological turning point”. However, one reader fears that Vladimir Putin’s military response to Ukraine’s victories will be “very uncomfortable” as he tries to save face.
Others are now gaining hope. “An important sign to the world that even seemingly overpowering attackers can be pushed back with the right strategy and modern weapons,” writes one reader. In addition, this is an important step to get Putin to the negotiating table after all.
Another reader also finds that the counter-offensive puts Ukraine in a very good starting position for possible peace negotiations. Only: “How credible is a binding commitment from Russia?” he expresses his skepticism.
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There are also readers who do not yet see the turning point in the war in Ukraine’s offensive. One reader, for example, believes that Ukraine must first be equipped with sufficiently heavy weapons such as battle tanks. “There is really no reason at all not to finally deliver the desired tanks to Ukraine, because what is happening now can really be a turning point for Ukraine and for Europe,” writes another reader.
We have put together a selection for you from the various letters from the Handelsblatt readership.
No turning point yet
“Ukraine’s offensive is not yet a turning point in the war. A significant turning point in the war can only be achieved when Ukraine is equipped with sufficient heavy weapons such as battle tanks, sufficient ammunition and a functioning air defense system.
We in Germany are already in a war as well, a hybrid war that started even before the attack on Ukraine. Putin lured Germany into the gas trap and now closed it. He uses gas as a weapon. But the SPD hasn’t figured that out yet.
We must also support the Ukrainians with Leopard and Marder tanks, because they are also fighting for Germany. If Putin wins this war, he will reach out to Eastern Europe and eventually Western Europe as well. Maybe then Trump will be US President again and won’t mind, because for him the EU is an economic opponent of the US that should be kept small.”
Karlheinz Rein
Reconsider stance on heavy arms supply
“No one can say whether the successes of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will bring the military turning point. What is certain, however, is that this can only succeed if Ukraine is given massive support with heavy equipment, and that it must succeed if Europe does not want to fall back into a dark age. Eighty years ago, Hitler massively underestimated the will, ability and determination of the Western Allies, and that, fortunately for us later generations, brought him down. We should teach Putin the same lesson.
Our chancellor, who once refused military service – be it out of laziness, cowardice or out of staunch pacifism – needs to reconsider his stance on supplying heavy arms or he is out of place. The situation calls for courage and determination, not fear and hesitation.”
Peter Hermsdorf
>> Read our interview: Latvian military strategist Toms Rostoks expects Ukraine to be able to hold retaken territory – and explains who is likely to benefit most from the winter.
Of course tanks have to be delivered
“I have known the Ukraine, a country totally unknown to Germany, for 26 years because of my professional activity.
German disinterest in Ukraine has always irritated me, and only because of Russian aggression do you suddenly have to deal with this country. A million women and children have fled to Germany, they trust us and they want to go home.
Of course, these tanks must be delivered. The German cowardice to decide as a ‘leader’ is shameful.”
Beate Schober
A psychological turning point
“Ukraine’s counteroffensive is a psychological turning point for Russia’s warfare.
Putin will try to save face. The military response can therefore become very uncomfortable.”
Justus Stand
An important sign and an important step
“An important sign to the world that attackers who appear to be overpowering can be pushed back with the right strategy and modern weapons. An important step to get the aggressor to the negotiating table after all!”
Dennis Wendt
Deliver highly effective and accurate anti-missile weapons
“The federal government, and within it the SPD in particular, are increasingly disqualifying themselves through their hesitant behavior regarding the delivery of heavy weapons.
But not only because of this, but also because of the unqualified handling of the energy crisis, we make ourselves look ridiculous abroad and endanger our economic and social basis.
On the contrary, in addition to the desired heavy weapons, Germany would also have to deliver highly effective and precise missile defense weapons as quickly as possible in order to be able to effectively counter the expected Russian counterattacks on other cities in Ukraine.”
Hans Dieter Martin
No “dictated peace”
“Ukraine’s successful counter-offensive puts it in a very good starting position for possible peace negotiations.
Thus, Russia will not define its conditions as the basis, but the talks could take place constructively on an ‘equal footing’.
There would be no ‘dictated peace’, but rather serious talks between both parties.
In my opinion, the most important question of all questions is: What credibility does a binding commitment from Russia have?”
Daniel Boeckenhaupt
The maximum nakedness
“Olaf Scholz gave himself again
the maximum nakedness.
Not only is he small in stature,
he also lacks any size!”
Oliver Dange
The turning point in the war
“Yes, it’s the turning point in the war of a paranoid, short-statured wannabe.
His rapacious, corrupt, fascist gang of soldiers is falling apart. It is embarrassingly inferior to Western military technology and the courage of the Ukrainians.
Sensitive losses of material and people at the front, international ostracism, the consequences of sanctions, loss of revenue and the internal decomposition in its bonded police state will lead to a political change in Russia through the power of the rich oligarchs.”
Jannis Vassilatos
>> Read about this: Negotiate or escalate? Putin under pressure after military setbacks
No more reason not to deliver tanks
“There is really no reason at all not to finally deliver the desired tanks to Ukraine, because what is happening now can really be a turning point for Ukraine and for Europe.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is violating his oath of office and endangering the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Europeans as a whole if approval for the requested tank deliveries is not granted immediately.
How deluded must the chancellor, the defense minister and especially Kevin Kühnert be not wanting to continue delivering refuted arguments so as not to unnecessarily irritate the mass murderer and war criminal Putin?
As a doctor who heals the sick, I just can’t think of anything else.”
Thomas Konstantin Speich
The political pressure on Scholz increases
“More and more politicians want to help Ukraine liberate the occupied territories. Only our chancellor doesn’t seem willing to also supply heavy weapons like the Leopard tank.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Ukraine must win this war, also to defend our freedom.
Meanwhile, Scholz only hears the standard sentence that Ukraine must exist, whatever the borders.
The political pressure on Scholz is increasing, even the FDP and the Greens are calling for the issue of the tank delivery to be finally clarified. Unfortunately, the chancellor has to ‘be carried to the hunt’.”
pure wolf
Offer Russia a way out without dangerous defiance
“The federal government is probably trying to calibrate Ukraine’s possible gains in territory in such a way that there is enough bargaining chip left to offer the weakened Russia a way out without dangerous defiant reactions.
Tanks, on the other hand, could enable the military liberation of the Ukrainian Donbass and Crimea with German weapons. But I think that Luhansk and Donetsk are indeed Ukrainian, and that centuries-old Crimea is at least as morally lost to Russia as East Prussia is to Germany today, thanks to comparatively stupid wars of aggression.
So German tanks should help at least in the Donbass and the rest of Ukraine; for the use in the Crimea, one can place further conditions on Kyiv, similar to what is now the case with the long-range missiles.”
Mark Swindger
If you would like to have your say on this topic in the Handelsblatt, write us a comment, either by e-mail [email protected] or on Instagram at @handelsblatt.
More: Last week, Handelsblatt readers wrote to us about their feelings on Liz Truss, the new British Prime Minister.