Merkel defends blocking Ukraine’s Nato bid as Zelensky criticises her ‘policy of concession’ to Moscow
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her decision to block Ukraine’s Nato application, as President Zelensky criticised her “policy of concession” towards Moscow.
The former leader was called out by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who also took aim at France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy, after mass graves and hundreds of unarmed civilians were found in the town of Bucha, just outside of Kyiv.
Zelensky visited the site of the massacre, which he branded a ‘genocide’, as some western leaders called it a ‘war crime’.
In a speech earlier this week, he criticised Merkel, who retired last December, and Sarkozy, for stopping Ukraine from joining Nato during the 2008 Bucharest conference. Merkel’s Germany instead opted to trade more with Russia, in a bid to stop its militarism.
He invited “Merkel and Sarkozy to visit ..and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years”.
“They thought that, by refusing Ukraine, they would be able to appease Russia. Now we are fighting for our lives in the most horrific war in Europe since World War Two.”
An aide for Merkel said according to the Telegraph she “stands by her decision in relation to the 2008 Nato summit in Bucharest”, while supporting the international community’s bid to isolate Putin.