OREANDA-NEWS The majority of German residents oppose their country's arms supplies to Ukraine. In a survey conducted by the YouGov sociological institute, 59 percent of respondents supported the refusal of the German government to supply Kiev with defensive weapons in case of a possible Russian invasion, the dpa agency reported on Thursday, January 27. Only 20 percent of respondents consider it necessary to follow the calls of the Ukrainian authorities, who insist on the supply of weapons by Germany. Another 21 percent of participants did not answer this question in any way.

Supporters of all parties represented in the German Bundestag oppose the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine. Among the voters of the Left Party, their share is 71 percent, followed by voters of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (67 percent), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (61 percent), which is part of the ruling coalition, as well as the conservative CDU/CSU bloc (56 percent), which is in opposition. Less clearly than the supporters of the other parliamentary parties, the voters of the other two ruling parties — the Union-90/Greens (55 percent) and the Free Democratic Party (54 percent) disagree with the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

Amid the threat of a new Russian invasion, Ukraine has repeatedly demanded arms supplies, including from Germany. The German government refused these demands. In particular, this was stated on January 17 by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a visit to Kiev. «The position of the German government on arms supplies, given our restrictive arms export policy, is known, and this is also explained by our history», said Baerbock.

In this regard, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht recalled the large-scale assistance provided by Germany to Ukraine and pointed out that 1.8 billion euros were allocated to Kiev only for the development of this country. On January 26, Lambrecht announced that Berlin would supply Ukraine with 5,000 military helmets. «This is an absolutely clear signal: we stand by your side», she said.