Germany rules out for now the delivery of weapons to Ukraine amid rising tensions with RussiaDefense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in an interview published Saturday, just days after Britain began supplying anti-tank weapons to Kiev.
A bipartisan group of US senators has also promised Ukraine weapons to help the country defend against a possible invasion, amid a deployment of Russian forces to its borders.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, has emphasized Berlin’s policy of not supplying lethal weapons in conflict zones.
“I can understand the desire to support Ukraine, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Lambrecht told the Welt am Sonntag weekly.
“Ukraine will receive a complete field hospital along with the necessary training in February, all co-financed by Germany,” he explained, noting that Germany has been treating seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers in its military hospitals for years.
But Berlin is unwilling to supply Kiev with weapons just yet. “We have to do everything possible to de-escalate. The delivery of arms would not be useful in this sense, there is agreement on this in the German government”, said Lambrecht.