Germany will deliver 5,000 military helmets to Ukraine

Woman in the foreground: Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht visits troops in Kurdistan (file photo).

In view of the massive deployment of Russian forces near Ukraine, Germany will provide Ukraine with 5,000 military protective helmets. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told members of the Defense Committee in Berlin on Wednesday, as the German news agency learned from the meeting.

Only last week, Chancellor Olaf Schultz confirmed the government’s position not to deliver lethal, that is, lethal weapons to Ukraine. In addition to the German arms export directive, this is also based on the claim not to contribute to escalation and to maintain the ability to talk with Russia.

Anger in Kiev, ridicule in Germany

At the same time, the federal government has assured that Germany will continue to help. “Germany has already agreed to hand over a field hospital to Ukraine in a very short time,” deputy government spokeswoman Christian Hoffmann said at the beginning of the week.

In Kiev, there is a lot of anger about it. The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andrei Melnik, speaks of an “incomprehensible refusal.”

In Germany itself, there is often an irony in social networks about mini-help. “How ridiculous can you make yourself? Germany: yes,” wrote the head of the news and society department of the Welt newspaper. “This is how you left #Ukraine and make Germany look ridiculous. #Lambrecht,” says a member of the Christian Social Union.