Ukraine disappointed with Germany's attitude

The vast majority of Germans support their government's decision not to supply arms to Ukraine. In a survey conducted by the YouGov public opinion research institute, 59 percent of respondents supported the Federal Government's decision not to supply Ukraine with any weapons to defend against a possible Russian attack. Only 20 percent said they were in favor of arms deliveries, and 21 percent did not want to say anything about it. Ukraine would like to receive warships and air defense systems from Germany.

Kiev does not hide its disappointment with German policy. Ukraine believes that it is threatened by a new aggression from Russia. The outrage in Ukraine was also caused by the statement of the inspector of the German Navy Kai-Achim Schönbach, who in the meantime resigned after declaring that Ukraine will never get back the Crimean peninsula, which was occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014. However, Schenbach's resignation did not appease the Ukrainians.

"It's time for the truth"

All this prompted the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, to criticize the bilateral relations between the two countries. "Since 2014, Germany has done a lot for Ukraine to increase pressure (on Russia, ed.) with sanctions, to support Ukrainian reforms and help the Ukrainian economy," Kuleba told Ukrainian station ICTV. But in every crisis there is a moment of truth, says the minister. "Now with Germany, we have reached that moment of truth, and that with a series of fundamentally important issues concerning the security and future of Ukraine as an independent state", emphasized Kuleba.

These issues, from the Ukrainian point of view, include German support for tougher sanctions against Russia, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and the delivery of weapons. "It is about bilateral arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine, but also Berlin's permits to third countries to sell arms to Ukraine bought from Germany. It is also about Germany's consent for Ukraine to buy weapons through NATO. There should be no blockades on the part of Berlin regarding these issues," Kuleba believes. According to media reports, Berlin did not allow Estonia to supply Ukraine with old howitzers that were once used in the army of the former GDR.

An invitation to Germany to think about its policy towards Ukraine

Back in December of last year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov accused Germany of preventing arms deliveries to Ukraine via NATO. "They are building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and at the same time blocking our armaments for self-defense. It is quite unfair," Resnikov told the Ukrainian media and assessed that the strategy "not to provoke Russia" will not be successful.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian Parliament called on the United Nations, the European Parliament, the governments and parliaments of other countries, as well as the parliamentary assemblies of international organizations, to finally recognize the European perspective that Ukraine is striving for and set a time for its accession to NATO.

At the same time, the parliamentary committees for European integration and foreign affairs sent a joint letter to the German Bundestag demanding that Germany's policy towards Ukraine be reconsidered in view of the Russian threat. "It is irresponsible and short-sighted not to arm us and even to prevent our partners from doing so." All previous justifications for such a policy are not convincing. This is not a policy of appeasement, but rather an encouragement to war," the letter states.

"Ukraine will never attack other countries"

MP of the ruling party in Ukraine "Servants of the People" and co-president of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Marina Bardina, told DW that she and her colleagues from the Bundestag first of all expect diplomatic help to tighten sanctions against Russia.

Irina Herashchenko, the head of the parliamentary group of the "European Solidarity" party and a member of the Gender Policy Committee, in an interview with DW, expressed her concern that Berlin not only does not deliver weapons, but also prevents other countries from doing so: "And Ukraine is more in favor of diplomacy but for weapons. Ukraine will never use weapons against other countries, while weapons have been used against us for eight years. We have the right to defend ourselves. The guarantors of European morality and values ​​have to deal with it," says Herashchenko.

Valery Hnatenko, a representative of the "Opposition Platform - for Life", the second-strongest party in the Ukrainian parliament, points to another thing. He considers it a humiliation that Ukraine is begging the West for weapons, because that country itself used to export weapons. "The current policy of our country is to blame. In 30 years, we destroyed everything we inherited from the Soviet Union in 1991," says Hnatenko.

"Point out the contradictions in the German attitude"

There are no politicians with pro-Russian views not only in Ukraine, but also in Germany, as well as in other Western countries, Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fezenko points out for DW. In his opinion, Kyiv should continue to actively build a partnership with Germany, but also not to hold back from making demands and criticizing the actions of official Berlin.

"During the time of the former Ukrainian government, in principle, any public criticism of Germany and Western partners was not allowed," says Fezenko. But it was of no use. "We have to point out in partnership and friendship the serious contradictions that come to the fore in the viewpoints of German official representatives." Because such attitudes, Fezenko concludes, benefit Russia and harm Ukraine.