Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a "dramatic reality" in view of heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine and a nuclear maneuver by Russia announced for Saturday.

"We must never be naive," Scholz said on Friday in Brussels.

"There is a build-up of military forces on the part of Russia that is sufficient to wage a war against Ukraine." One must continue to work on a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but EU sanctions are now finally prepared.

"We can make decisions tomorrow," he said.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Regarding Russia's response to letters from the US and NATO on security issues, Scholz said that Moscow sees room for diplomacy.

However, he rejected the announcement of “military-technical measures” by Russia.

This is a trivializing description of "military aggression".

Scholz wanted to discuss the situation with American President Joe Biden and other heads of government that evening.

"Exactly the wrong time"

Meanwhile, the Dutch cabinet decided to supply Ukraine with a hundred sniper rifles, which can be used against lightly armored vehicles, in addition to protective equipment and radar equipment.

Last year, The Hague and Berlin blocked the procurement of such weapons through NATO.

When asked about the neighbors' change of heart, Scholz said there was no reason to change the German decision-making process, because "that would be exactly the wrong time".

Washington accuses Moscow of heating up the situation in the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine in order to create a pretext for "further aggression" against Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said at the beginning of the Munich Security Conference that this was part of the strategy of "creating false provocations", then reacting to them and launching new aggressions.

In the past few days, the number of incidents along the line of contact in Donbass has increased significantly.

The pro-Russian "People's Republics" said they expected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to order an "invasion" "in the near future."

That is why the "mass" emigration of the population to Russia was organized.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded on Twitter:

“Ukraine does not plan such actions in Donbass.

We are fully committed to exclusively diplomatic regulation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the government in Kiev on Friday of not fulfilling the Minsk agreements, but of "sabotaging" them.

This Saturday, Putin wants to lead maneuvers by Russia's nuclear forces, which will also include "launching ballistic missiles and cruise missiles," said Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

These and other Russian military exercises currently taking place are "completely transparent" and should "not alarm anyone".

Putin himself stressed that the Russian-Belarusian maneuvers, which are due to end on Sunday, "do not threaten anyone".