Germany’s approach to the Russian threat to Ukraine has been described as a “joke” after Berlin responded to requests for arms by offering 5,000 protective helmets.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and a former world heavyweight boxing champion, who previously lived in Germany, said he could not understand the lack of support.
“The behaviour of the German government leaves me speechless,” he told the newspaper Bild. “The defence ministry apparently hasn’t realised that we are confronted with perfectly equipped Russian forces that can start another invasion of Ukraine at any time. What kind of support will Germany send next, pillows?”
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has declined to export weapons to Ukraine and has been accused in recent days of holding up the movement of arms offered by Nato allies.
Earlier this week Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin had urged the German government to at least help by sending 100,000 helmets and protective vests.
However, Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, announced on Wednesday that Berlin would instead supply just 5,000 military helmets. She said the offer sent “a very clear signal: we are on your side”.
Germany is also providing a complete field hospital and the necessary training, at a cost of €5.3m (£4.4m).
The development will not ease concerns in the EU over Germany’s approach to the crisis on Ukraine’s border, where more than 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed.
Berlin is facing pressure to drop its objection to an EU military training mission in Ukraine. According to diplomatic sources, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, raised the issue of the mission at a meeting of ministers from the 27 member states on Monday and asked opponents of the plan to reconsider.
Officials at the EU’s foreign affairs wing, the external action service, are expected to make further efforts in the coming weeks to convince Berlin to give the green light. Italy, Spain, Austria and Greece are among those who also oppose the proposal, according to EU sources.
EU training missions to build up armies have previously been established in Mali and Somalia. Germany instead favours establishing a “European peace facility” – a financing programme that could help in reforming the Ukrainian armed forces – which the government in Berlin believes would be better suited to EU goals.
A communique issued after a meeting on Monday of EU foreign ministers said only that the bloc was “was defining modalities of support to Ukraine also in the area of professional military education”.
A spokesperson for Borrell declined to comment on the confidential discussions. He said: “On the issue of a possible EU training mission to Ukraine, I can confirm that discussions among the member states continue. We are intensifying the work in this regard. We hope that the decision, which is for the member states to take in unanimity, will be taken soon. On our side, we will continue accelerating the preparatory work to deploy such a mission if member states agree on that.
“In light of evolving developments, we need to move forward quickly. This message was clearly conveyed by the high representative for foreign affairs to the foreign ministers on Monday.”
While the US and the EU have emphasised their unified position over the threat posed to peace from the 106,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, Scholz has faced heavy criticism at home and abroad over his relatively cautious approach to the crisis.
“You hear nothing from him,” said one diplomatic source in Brussels. “The political signalling is really weak.”
The German government’s stance on the EU training mission has been cited by some in Brussels as evidence of Berlin’s fear of provoking the Kremlin.
There is also growing criticism of a delay in German approval on arms exports to Ukraine. Estonia has been seeking to send Soviet-made D-30 howitzers to Kyiv. The arms were previously kept in the former German Democratic Republic, in east Germany, meaning approval is required from the German government.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Tuesday that it was a “huge disappointment” that Berlin had been withholding permission.
