Ukraine accuses Germany of blocking its acquisition of defensive weapons: “Russia’s strategy of non-challenge does not work”

Kiev is currently relying on the purchase of military equipment through bilateral contracts from allies such as the US, France, Lithuania or the UK, the Ukrainian defense minister told the Financial Times.

Ukraine’s defense minister accused Germany of blocking the delivery of NATO weapons to Kiev, despite warnings of a possible invasion by Russian forces.

Oleksii Reznikov told the Financial Times that Berlin has in the past month prevented Ukraine from acquiring anti-drone weapons and anti-sniper systems through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.

However, Germany has since renounced its opposition to the purchase of anti-drone weapons after establishing that they are not lethal.

Kiev, however, expressed its dissatisfaction with Germany’s position, which it again criticised for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

“They’re still building Nord Stream 2 and at the same time they’re blocking our acquisition of defensive weapons. It is very unfair,” Reznikov accused, referring to the gas pipeline that crosses the Baltic Sea to Germany, thus bypassing the current delivery routes, which pass through Ukraine.

However, on Sunday, Berlin’s new foreign minister, environmentalist Annalena Baerbock, warned that Nord Stream 2 would not be allowed to operate in the event of a new “escalation” in Ukraine, confirming a deal already announced by Washington.

What will the new German Government decide?

The statements of the Ukrainian defense minister come at a time when Kiev is making efforts to equip its army as best as possible in anticipation of a possible conflict, while the Allies fear that arms deliveries could irritate Russia or serve as a pretext for invasion.

Ukraine is now trying to quickly acquire anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, as well as equipment for cyber defense.

Given Germany’s veto on the purchase of lethal military equipment – a position adopted by Angela Merkel’s former government – Reznikov said that Ukraine would try to buy these weapons through bilateral contracts with allies – the US, Britain, Lithuania or France.

The position of the new government in Berlin led by Olaf Scholz is not yet clear. The Ministry of Economy, responsible for approving this kind of transactions, did not comment.

In May, however, Robert Habeck, the Greens’ co-leader, currently the economy minister in the new government, admitted that Ukraine’s demands for defensive weapons would be “hard to refuse”.

In Kiev, Reznikov said he was “optimistic” about the purchase of missiles and other defensive weapons from the US and other Western allies, but did not confirm whether they would arrive in time for a possible conflict with Russia.

The Ukrainian official warned, however, that allies’ fears about Russia’s confrontation from a position of force were inappropriate.

“The strategy of not challenging Russia does not work and will not work,” he said, noting that Moscow invaded Georgia after Berlin and Paris practically blocked the country’s accession to NATO in 2008.

At the same time, despite the tensions at the border, Reznikov said that the prospect of an invasion was not very clear.

He warned that a conflict would be a calamity for Europe, with millions of Ukrainians forced to flee to the EU and the country’s grain exports at risk.

“There will be many coffins that will return to Russia,” he said, adding that the invasion would mark “the end of the current world” and the beginning of a new one, “without international rules.”

A new warning from Russia

On Sunday, Russia received a new warning, this time from the G7, the group of the world’s industrialised countries.

Russia is exposing itself to “major consequences” in the event of a Ukraine invasion, British diplomacy chief Liz Truss warned at the end of the G7 meeting.

Truss said the UK is considering all options on how it will respond if Russia invades Ukraine, recalling that London has in the past resorted to economic sanctions to send diplomatic messages to Moscow, Reuters reports.

On the other side, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday threatened a military response from Moscow if the US and NATO do not react to the Russian request for security guarantees to avoid the North Atlantic Alliance continuing to expand eastwards and moving closer to its borders, writes EFE, cited by Agerpres.

“The lack of progress in the political-diplomatic solution of this problem will make our response military and technical-military,” Ryabkov said in an interview published by the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

According to the Russian deputy minister, NATO’s statements that the alliance does not intend to deploy short- and medium-range missiles equipped with a nuclear charge are not convincing for Moscow.

“First of all, we do not trust NATO as an alliance. Many times we have found ourselves in a situation where today I say one thing, tomorrow another, and in a year’s time, a third thing. And they do it as if nothing had happened,” Ryabkov claimed.

He explained that one of the reasons why Russia is asking for legal guarantees of security at the highest level is because “so far all statements, including all political commitments, are not respected.”