Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Politics

Germany cannot supply Ukraine weapons due to WW2 past - foreign minister

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 18, 2022. Ina Fassbender/Pool via REUTERS

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday defended her country's decision not to send weapons to Ukraine to fend off a possible Russian invasion, saying its World War Two past meant it had a duty to seek other ways to secure peace.

Germany was Ukraine's biggest donor, for example, Baerbock said in a pannel at the Munich Security Conference with her U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken, who agreed that Western powers were working in a complementary, coordinated way.

"This is our strength - we are standing all together but using our different roles of support, with our different histories," Baerbock said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, who was sitting in the audience at the event, countered the minister, saying that at the current moment, Ukraine needed Germany to deliver it "defensive weapons".

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold in Munich and Sarah Marsh in Berlin, Editing by Kirsti Knolle)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.