German Vice Chancellor apologizes for hesitating to provide weapons to Ukraine

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck apologized to the Ukrainians for the fact that after the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia, Germany did not provide military aid to Ukraine for a long time. Habeck said during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The German official recalled that Berlin did not immediately start transferring weapons to Ukraine, but then changed its position and started helping.

"It took too long and it was too late, I know that. I think not all German politicians would say the same, but I am very ashamed that it happened too late. And now part of my job in the last year is to help, so that the Ukrainians receive weapons as quickly as possible," Habeck said.

At the end of 2021 and in the first half of 2022, Germany consistently refused to give Ukraine weapons to defend against Russian aggression and blocked the supply of weapons to Kyiv through NATO. Germany also did not allow Estonia to provide Ukraine with German-made weapons that Tallinn had.

On January 26, 2022, Germany promised to provide Ukraine with 5,000 military helmets to protect against Russian aggression, but even their delivery was delayed.