The German defence minister Boris Pistorius is disappointed by the result of talks between Trump and Putin on Ukraine, as DW writes on Wednesday.
In the face of fresh Russian attacks on Ukraine, the German defence minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) powerfully criticized the actions of Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. “Putin is playing a game here,” said Pistorius on Wednesday (19.03.2025) on the program “Morgenmagazin” of tv ZDF. “I am certain that the American president will not be able to look at this for long,” he added.
Putin's announcement to suspend Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days Pistorius called it "useless". “This is nothing, due to the fact that it means little attacks on infrastructure, which is inactive best protected in Ukraine,” said the head of the German Ministry of Defence. As he added, it became clear that the attacks on civilian infrastructure "did not decrease during the first night after this supposedly groundbreaking, wonderful telephone conversation."
Suspension of weapons only complete
In a telephone conversation with U.S. president Donald Trump on Tuesday Putin refused to offer a complete ceasefire agreed by the US and Ukraine. Instead, Trump and Putin agreed on a 30-day suspension of Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. According to the Kremlin, the Russian president has set further conditions for ceasefire, for example, to halt arms supplies for Ukrainian armed forces and to supply intelligence.
“This is unacceptable,” Pistorius said, commenting on Moscow’s demands. If there's a ceasefire, it's on both sides. But then both sides must be able to prepare to break the ceasefire," he said.
(AFP/stef) Contribution: Monika Stefanek
