The German Defense Ministry rejected a proposal by Bundestag deputies from the ruling coalition to supply Ukraine with more weapons and, if necessary, agree to weakening the Bundeswehr. Given the threat posed by Russia under President Vladimir Putin, Germany cannot take such risks. The announcement was made on Monday, August 22, by an official representative of the military department.

“Indeed, we must be prepared for the fact that Putin will take advantage of any weakness and even a temporary gap in NATO’s defense readiness,” he told AFP. He recalled that Germany must provide its alliance partners with “support within the scope of obligations” as provided for in Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. “During the Cold War, we probably wouldn’t understand if our allies had reduced collective defense because of the situation in various theaters of war – and there were in the world,” added the military official.

Europe’s stability and security are currently being protected in Ukraine

In a joint article for Der Spiegel published Sunday, August 21, defense experts Kristian Klinck, a Social Democrat, Sara Nanni of the 90/Green Alliance, and Alexander Müller, a Free Democrat (Alexander Müller criticized the current position of Berlin that maintaining the ability to defend Germany and NATO takes precedence over helping Ukraine.

The authors of the article pointed out that so far the government has explained the relatively small amount of military assistance to Ukraine by the shortage of military equipment in the German army itself. “This is nothing more than a constructed conflict of objectives, as Europe’s security and stability are being defended in Ukraine,” they said.