“Consumables on the Fine Line”
Annalena Burbock said In an interview with ZDF TV channel, he explained how he evaluated Russia’s last six months of military special operations in Ukraine, and also why he rejected the idea of starting peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to him, it is not yet clear whether Ukraine will win. However, Burbock promised that in Germany they would “do everything for it”, because “Ukraine has been fighting for six months for its freedom, country, peace and European world order.”
“The German arms supply is on a fine line. Unfortunately, the situation here is such that there is an absolute shortage of our own stocks,” said the head of the German Foreign Ministry.
He believes Ukraine’s Independence Day, which the country celebrates on August 24, is a “wake-up call” to consider how else Kiev can be helped. But they are unsure if they can continue to supply weapons to Ukraine due to the insufficient equipment of their own troops in Germany.
“For Ukraine, it is of course better to make deliveries today than yesterday. However, Germany also needs to think in the medium term. Because of the problem with weapons in Germany, the military industry had to start production specifically for Ukraine, ”explained Burbock.
“We didn’t listen to our friends”
Commenting on the “loss of confidence in German foreign policy by the Eastern European and Baltic partner states”, Burbock acknowledged that “many Chinese have been crushed”.
“By adhering to North Stream 2, we did not take into account the concerns of our Baltic and Eastern European friends,” the diplomat said.
According to the ZDF, Burbock’s party “already criticized the pipeline project and warned against over-reliance on Russian energy.”
The German Foreign Minister added that relations between Germany and the allies also “stumbled” during discussions on the exchange of heavy weapons with Eastern European countries. According to him, “in general, the supply of heavy weapons was unstable”: at the beginning of the special operation, the governments of some countries completely excluded the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine.
“Now in the fall, additional and fast supplies are needed so that the Ukrainians can defend themselves. At the same time, we must be prepared for the fact that the war will continue next year. In the coming weeks, Germany will supply Ukraine with Iris-T air defense systems. Other systems should come out next year,” Burbock said.
He is also confident that Putin’s “crazy plan” “has not yet worked” as the special operation has been going on for six months. According to the German Foreign Minister, the Russian authorities had a plan that Ukraine would be “captured” and that its government and President Vladimir Zelensky would be “overthrown” in “a few days”.
“Burbock still believes that negotiations with the Russian government to end the war are wrong. According to him, by February 24, “everything was done to prevent war through diplomacy.” But the Russian President has decided to disrupt these peace talks,” he said.
German arms deliveries
21 June German authorities for the first time published A list of weapons supplied to Kiev and a plan for further deliveries. The German government has announced its intention to transfer to Ukraine 30 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, including the IRIS-T air defense system and MARS multiple launch rocket systems.
Russian authorities have repeatedly urged Western countries to stop pumping weapons into Kiev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that NATO was engaged in a proxy war with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine. The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that Western weapons in Ukraine will be a legitimate target for the Russian army.
On June 8, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured that Berlin would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, but would try to avoid a conflict between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia. According to the Chancellor, the country is “acting in concert with the allies” on the supply of weapons.