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A
bipartisan group of U.S. senators also promised weapons to
Ukraine, which could include missiles, small arms and boats, to
help the country defend itself from a potential invasion amid a
Russian military build-up https://www.reuters.com/world/top-diplomats-us-russia-meet-geneva-soaring-ukraine-tensions-2022-01-21
on its borders.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, has stressed Berlin's
policy of not supplying lethal weapons to conflict zones.
"I can understand the wish to support Ukraine, and that's
exactly what we are doing already," Lambrecht told the Welt am
Sonntag weekly.
"Ukraine will receive a complete field hospital together with
the necessary training in February, all co-financed by Germany
for 5.3 million euros ($6.01 million)," she said, noting that
Germany has been treating severely injured Ukrainian troops in
its military hospitals for years.
But Berlin is not ready to supply Kyiv with weapons for the time
being, the minister said.
"We have to do everything to de-escalate. Currently, arms
deliveries would not be helpful in this respect, there is
agreement on this in the German government," Lambrecht said.
With her remarks, she sided with German Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock who said Germany would not criticize other
countries for being ready to supply weapons to Ukraine.
"But I don't think it is realistic that such deliveries could
tip the military balance," Baerbock told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
"The most powerful weapon...is for NATO allies, EU member states
and the G7 to make it clear (to Russia) that every fresh
aggression will be answered with massive consequences."
($1 = 0.8818 euros)
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by William Maclean)
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