New German Government Continues to Block Possibility of Arms Sales to Ukraine

Germany has not yet sent clear signals on unblocking arms supplies to Ukraine through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.

“A new German government was formed. So far, we do not have clear signals from the Chancellor and the Minister of Defence on unblocking this situation. Perhaps, it is not the time to focus on this issue in the context of aggravation and build-up of Russia‘s military presence on the border. However, we publicly stated that this situation was unfair to Ukraine. Of course, we will negotiate,” Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna said.

According to her, this problem arose due to two aspects, including a political one.

“There is a political position of Germany and the Netherlands that the supply of any small arms or lethal weapons is not considered politically feasible while the military conflict with Russia is ongoing in Ukraine. There is a need to negotiate on this issue with these countries bilaterally, not within NATO. This is a really big political challenge to us, and it is not a very pleasant situation,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

The second aspect, in her opinion, is that Ukraine reached a new level of cooperation with NATO when Ukrainian structures integrate deeply into various NATO structures.

As a reminder, on 12 December, Minister of Defence of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov said that Germany was blocking arms supplies to Kyiv through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency despite the threat of Russian invasion.

According to him, anti-drone rifles and counter-sniper systems were expected. Later, Germany greenlighted the first point, declaring these weapons non-lethal.

According to Bild German media outlet, the arms supplies to Ukraine through NATO were blocked by Angela Merkel, the then Chancellor of Germany. All decisions in NATO must be made by consensus, so Germany used its veto power at the NATO Support and Procurement Agency board. The Netherlands sided with Germany at the request of the Merkel government as Berlin allegedly did not want to be the only one to oppose supplies.

Bohdan Marusyak