Status: 02/26/2022 5:35 p.m
The federal government is apparently changing its policy on arms exports to Ukraine: According to information from the ARD Capital Studios should a third country be allowed to pass on 400 bazookas made in Germany.
The federal government is apparently softening its no to arms deliveries to Ukraine. Germany was in agreement with another country handing over 400 German-made rocket-propelled grenades to Ukraine ARD Capital Studio from government circles. An EU diplomat also confirmed the information to the Reuters news agency. The dpa news agency reports that these are weapons from the Netherlands. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously ruled out the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
For the resale of German weapons to third countries, the regulation of the end-use declaration applies: anyone who resells armaments from Germany must ask the Federal Republic for approval.
So far it has been known that the federal government is blocking the transfer of German howitzers from Estonia to Ukraine. Originally, the Federal Republic of Germany had given the D-30 artillery pieces from the stocks of the GDR’s National People’s Army to Finland, from where some went to Estonia. According to media reports, Estonia had already asked the federal government for approval in December, but it has not yet been granted.
International pressure on Germany
Before that, international pressure had grown on Germany to reconsider its stance on arms deliveries to Ukraine. Among other things, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had accused “selfishness” in the Ukraine conflict. The Polish Prime Minister described the 5,000 protective helmets that Berlin had promised Ukraine as “a kind of joke”. Ukraine needs “real help”, i.e. “weapons”. The Ukrainians are not only fighting for themselves, “they are also fighting for us. For our freedom, our sovereignty. So that we are not next in line,” he emphasized.
The politician from the national conservative party PiS accused the Russian government of “wanting to destroy the world as we know it”. The West must therefore “act now”. Warsaw has long advocated a tough stance on Russia within the EU and NATO.
At a British-led conference, several states pledged military support to Ukraine. Around two dozen countries had pledged “military and humanitarian aid” to the attacked country at a donor conference, sources in London said. The British Defense Ministry tweeted that it was considering every option to help Kyiv defend itself against “President Putin’s groundless and illegal invasion”. “I am pleased that other allies have offered defensive and humanitarian assistance,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted. According to a report by British broadcaster Sky News, the conference also included the United States and several non-NATO countries.