German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is bracing himself for the fact that Russia's war against Ukraine could last a long time.
"We have to fear that it will go on even longer, although of course we wish every day it would be different," Scholz said on Tuesday during a question and answer session with citizens in the city of Cottbus to the south-east of Berlin near the Polish border.
The war was "associated with unbelievable losses" on both sides, Scholz said. Russia alone had lost somewhere between 30,000-40,000 and 100,000 soldiers, he said. "Both would be unimaginable amounts," he said.
As a consequence of the new threat situation, Scholz spoke out in favour of a closer interlinking of Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and the arms industry, for example to prevent ammunition shortages.
"We used to say: We order a weapon like this and the ammunition, and then nothing for 20 years until it breaks down, and we order a new one," Scholz said. Now, however, we have to move towards continuous production and create the conditions for it.
