Ukrainian boxer Volodymyr Klitschko – the brother of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko – will receive an award from the press in Germany on Thursday on behalf of the Ukrainian people, Die Zeit and Agerpres report.

The M100 Media Award will be presented in Potsdam, near Berlin, as part of a major press freedom event.

The award is given to Ukrainians who “with heroic courage, stoic strength and ardent desire to defend themselves against the brutal invasion of Russia for months now.”

“They defend not only their own independence, but also the independence of the whole of Europe,” the organizers said.

About 60 international journalists are participating in the Potsdam Colloquium on War and Mass Media. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is one of the main speakers at the event.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko received the M100 Media Award in 2014 as a representative of the democratic movement in Ukraine.

Germany does not want to send tanks and other heavy military equipment to Ukraine

In January, about a month before the war began, Vitaliy Klitschko sharply criticized the government in Berlin after it announced it would send helmets to the Ukrainian armed forces. The mayor of Kyiv then rhetorically asked what Germany was going to send to his country, “pillows?”.

After the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the executive branch led by Olaf Scholz approved the shipment of ammunition and military equipment to Ukraine, but refused to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with most of the heavy weapons requested by Kyiv.

This Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba again criticized this reluctance of Germany, asking on Twitter “what is Berlin afraid of?”.

His comments came a day after German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht reiterated that Berlin would not send tanks to Ukraine.