Security expert at Lanz
Claudia Major calls for industrial conversion to Ukrainian needs
By Marko Schlichting
2/9/2023 3:41 am
Security expert Claudia Major calls for Western industry to adapt to the needs of Ukraine. In the ZDF program “Markus Lanz” on Wednesday evening, she spoke out in favor of the delivery of ammunition and spare parts from the West.
The security expert Claudia Major from the Politics and Science Foundation has spoken out in favor of further support for Ukraine. “Basically, it’s not about a sprint, it’s about a marathon,” said the expert on Wednesday evening on the ZDF program “Markus Lanz”. The current discussion about combat aircraft is wrong. Certainly the West will soon deliver fighter jets to Ukraine. “But what Ukraine needs just as badly is ammunition, spare parts, more of everything. That means adapting our industrial production to Ukraine’s needs,” Major said.
In the end, the war will be won by those who can plug the holes, and Ukraine can do that with the support of the West. At the same time, however, it is also important to plug the holes in the Bundeswehr and the other western armies. “If Germany wants to be a leading power and we have a turning point, we have to invest a lot more to meet this requirement.”
“It’s about the active liberation of the population”
The current goal of the Ukrainian army is not to withstand the Russian attack. “It’s about the liberation of the areas occupied by Russia, about the active liberation of the population, because we see what happens to people under Russian occupation: war crimes, torture chambers, the destruction of churches and culture,” says Major. That is why the delivery of tanks is the right thing to do, because it will enable the Ukrainian army to retake territory.
Russia’s President Putin is playing for time. He hopes that Russia can hold out longer than Ukraine. “But it’s also about the West,” says Major. “If we don’t fill in the gaps in Ukraine, the army won’t be able to hold out. And Putin hopes that Russia will hold out longer than we do.”
It is true that there is a gigantic imbalance between Russia and Ukraine, both in industrial production and in the number of soldiers who could be deployed in the war. “But the Ukrainian armed forces have a completely different motivation than the Russian ones, they have completely different training, different medical care and they have completely different protection,” explains Major. At the same time, one does not know how many Russian weapons are not available due to mismanagement and corruption.
One problem, however, is that the tank deliveries promised by the West are coming too late, Major warns. “Probably the Ukrainian forces are running into a hole if the Russian offensive starts now and they don’t have the western weapons yet.”
Major is not asked about the possibility that Russia could shift the war to another country. The chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, had warned of this the evening before in the same place. In fact, a few days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Russian television that the Moldovan President has Romanian citizenship and supports her country’s unification with Romania. Earlier, several Russian politicians had threatened Moldova with destruction as a state if it decided to join NATO.