Germany's Scholz under pressure to speed up weapons exports to Ukraine

Kyiv says decisions are moving too slowly while Russia continues to bomb the country

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says weapons exports are being made in consultation with allies. Getty

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under growing pressure to speed up weapons exports to Ukraine amid impatience from Kyiv at what it sees as a slow response while the Russian onslaught continues.

Although Mr Scholz has spoken of a historic shift in German policy after years of conciliation towards Russia, critics say this has been half-hearted in practice, with Berlin accused of lagging behind allies in offering practical support.

The cool atmosphere was underlined this week by a row over a potential visit to Ukraine by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said he had pulled out after learning he was not welcome in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba played down that dispute but said Germany’s decision to supply arms had come too late, and that it had since made excuses for not sending heavy weaponry such as tanks.

While there are growing calls from within Mr Scholz’s ruling coalition to start supplying such weapons, Mr Kuleba said Ukrainians could not wait patiently for such a consensus to emerge.

“We pay the price in human lives for German politicians to have time to make decisions,” he told ARD television in Germany.

There are also signs of dissent within Mr Scholz’s three-party coalition, made up of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), which took office in December.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, an FDP politician and the chairwoman of a parliamentary defence committee, has gone public with her criticism of what she sees as weak leadership by Mr Scholz.

“The chancellor needs to finally lead the way and sort out what is to be done. He’s not really doing that,” she said.

Anton Hofreiter, a leading Green MP who joined Ms Strack-Zimmermann on the first German delegation to Kyiv since the war began, said Mr Scholz was “standing on the brakes” and damaging his country’s reputation in Europe.

Ukraine wants Germany to export heavier weaponry to help it fend off Russia's offensive. Reuters

Mr Scholz took another blow from a group of 96 policy experts and former politicians who accused Germany of “short-sighted egoism” that had hindered Europe’s response to Russia’s war.

They said in an open letter that weapons supplies to Ukraine should include warships, fighter planes and other material beyond what western powers have generally referred to as defensive equipment.

Ukraine rejects the distinction between defensive and offensive weapons, arguing that all its military gear is being used in self-defence while it is under attack by Russia.

“When we needed heavy weapons, I started hearing from Berlin arguments that all weapons should be divided in two categories … and Ukraine cannot get a tank because it’s an offensive weapon,” said Mr Kuleba.

“This is what I mean when I speak about half measures.”

Mr Scholz has responded to criticism by insisting that weapons transfers are made in consultation with allies and by noting his historic decision to deliver weapons at all.

Germany has sent anti-tank weapons and Stinger air defence missiles from its own stocks and approved the onward transfer of equipment possessed by other countries that once belonged to the East German military.

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  Ukrainian Nicolai, 41, says goodbye to his daughter Elina, 4, and his wife Lolita, on a train bound for Poland fleeing from the war at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo

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  A damaged Russian artillery tank is seen, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Trostianets, Sumy region, Ukraine. Reuters

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  Oksana Kolesnikova cries during the funeral of her son Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, a territorial defense soldier who was killed by Russian soldiers in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

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  US actor and director Liev Schreiber prepares meals in the kitchen of the 'World Central Kitchen', for war refugees from Ukraine staying in Przemysl, Poland. EPA

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  A Ukrainian boy musician plays his sax to entertain citizens in a square, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Dinipro, Ukraine. Reuters

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  The turret of a destroyed tank near the village of Zalissya, north-east of Kyiv. AFP

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  An unexploded shell in a field in Teterivka, near Kyiv. Reuters

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  A building damaged during fighting in Mariupol, which is holding out against the Russian invasion. AP Photo

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  A soldier from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic during fighting in Mariupol. AP Photo

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  A tank destroyed in the village of Termakhivka, Kyiv region. Reuters

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  The main station in Dnipro, central Ukraine, where a city official said the remains of more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were being kept in its morgues. AFP

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  A torn Ukrainian flag hangs in front a damaged apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters

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  Brothers in arms of serviceman Taras Bobanych, who was killed during the fighting with Russia, carry his portrait and coffin at his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP

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  From left to right; Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Latvian President Egils Levits and Estonian President Alar Karis pose for a picture before a meeting in Kyiv. Reuters

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  Local residents shelter in the basement of a residential building amid shelling in Lysychansk, in the Luhansk region. AFP

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  Local residents view a destroyed car next to a multi-storey building in Lysychansk. AFP

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  Ukrainian artillery shells Russian troops' position on the front line near Lysychansk. AFP

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  Natalya Verbova, 49, and her son attend the funeral of her husband Andriy Verbovyi, 55, who was killed by Russian soldiers while defending Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

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  The father and a friend of Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, who was killed by Russian soldiers in his car trying to leave Irpin, mourn his death outside the morgue in Bucha. AP

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  Pedestrians walk past artwork by the LBWS street art collective on a street in Odesa. AFP

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  Engineers inspect damage to the bridge that connects Kyiv with Irpin. AP

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  The mark of a shell is seen on a street in Irpin. AP

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  A boy shows the shell of a bullet in Bucha. AP

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  Cemetery worker Artem, exhausted, looks at the sky while working on the grave of Andriy Verbovyi, who was killed by Russian soldiers while serving in Bucha territorial defense. AP

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  Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, with her son Oleg Trubchaninov, 46, inside the room of her son Vadym, 48, who was killed by Russian soldiers on March 30 in Bucha. AP

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  A relative cries after the body of a civilian was exhumed from a shallow grave near his home in the village of Andriivka, in Kyiv region. AFP

The chancellor said Germany was a leading supplier of humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine and that bureaucratic procedures involved in exporting weapons ensured they were of good quality.

But Ukraine has spoken more warmly of Britain and American support after both countries started supplying weapons before Russia invaded in February.

“We appreciate the fact that Germany changed its position, but if this position had been changed before, we could have avoided the war,” Mr Kuleba said.

Frustration at Germany’s position goes beyond the immediate policies of Mr Scholz’s government, with the Russia-friendly policies of his predecessors Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schroeder both coming in for severe criticism.

Mr Steinmeier, who was a senior figure under both chancellors, has acknowledged the failure of his overtures to Moscow during two terms as foreign secretary.

Mr Schroeder and Mrs Merkel both pursued deeper economic ties with Russia and supported the construction of gas pipelines that have added to Germany’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

Germany has resisted calls in the European Union for an immediate import ban on oil and gas, but is moving to rid itself of reliance on both by 2024 in what it says will amount to a de facto embargo.