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Germany on Wednesday announced it was shipping 5,000 protective helmets to Ukraine, while reiterating that it would not send any weapons.
The gesture followed days of strong criticism of Germany’s refusal to export weapons to Ukraine and the fact that Berlin hasn’t granted Estonia permission to send old German howitzers to the country. Berlin had previously refused to export protective military equipment such as helmets or vests.
“We will deliver 5,000 helmets to Ukraine — equipment that is needed,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said. A defense ministry spokesperson could not say whether the helmets would be donated or whether Ukraine would have to pay for them.
The German gesture is hardly going to satisfy the expectations of Ukraine, which had hoped for weapons deliveries from Germany that could help its army fight off a potential Russian invasion. Moscow has amassed over 100,000 soldiers at Ukraine’s border, raising fears that an invasion may be imminent.
The German government has repeatedly said it won’t export weapons to Ukraine because of a long-standing policy not to supply weapons to crisis zones.
“In recent years, the German government has repeatedly decided not to supply lethal weapons. There are reasons for this, which are of course also based on all the developments of recent years and decades,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday, stressing that “Ukraine knows that it can rely on Germany.”
Source: Politico
