Germany decided on Wednesday to send even more weapons to Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion. 2,700 anti-aircraft missiles went east after the German government “approved additional support for Ukraine”.
Ironically, these are Soviet-made Strela-type missiles that come from the stocks of the army of the former communist East Germany. These stocks had been integrated into those of the German national army, the Bundeswehr, during German reunification in 1990, and are therefore more than thirty years old.
A turning point in German post-war politics
In addition, the German Ministry of Defense has sent 18,000 additional military helmets to Kiev in recent days, adding to an initial delivery of 5,000 units, bringing the total to 23,000. Berlin had already authorized the delivery to Kiev on Saturday of 500 Stinger-type anti-aircraft missiles, 1,400 anti-tank rocket launchers and nine howitzers, all of which have arrived in Ukraine in the meantime. The howitzers are also of Soviet manufacture.
Berlin’s decision to send arms to Ukraine marked a turning point in German post-war policy, as the country had previously always prohibited itself, due to its history under Nazism, from exporting arms ” lethal” in conflict zones. Chancellor Olaf Scholz justified this reversal by the “caesura” constituted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is forcing Germany to rethink its priorities.
The question of the use of Soviet-made equipment to help Ukraine has been the subject of some debate in the country for several weeks. “The GDR did not ensure in 1989 that the events” connected with the fall of the Berlin Wall “would take place without violence, so that its weapons could now be used against Russia”, exclaimed the last leader of the communist GDR state, Egon Krenz in the daily Berliner Zeitung.