German Government deems it safe to send weapons to Ukraine

Germany’s Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann believes arms supplies to Ukraine are legitimate from the international law perspective as Ukraine is waging a legitimate defensive war against Russia.

The minister made his statement in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Ukrinform reports.

"So, if they exercise their legal right to self-defense, supporting them with arms supplies cannot lead to becoming a participant in the war," said the politician with the Free Democratic Party .

He added that this was not only his personal opinion, but also the stance of the federal government. Buschmann also noted that Germany has become one of the countries in the world that were the first to systematically investigate and collect evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. He called on all the Ukrainian refugees who had become victim or witness of war crimes to contact any police station in the country.

While commenting on U.S. President Joe Biden's remarks accusing Russia of "genocide," Buschmann said: "There is no doubt that heinous and horrific crimes are being committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine."

At the same time, the politician noted that in order for genocide to be legally proven, there must be an intention to completely or partially destroy a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group as such, and he is not sure whether there is any evidence of this intention in this situation.

"But I think President Biden wanted to express not so much a legal assessment in a technical sense as to send a clear political message," Buschmann said.

The day before, as Ukrinform reported, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck (Alliance '90/The Greens) stated the need to increase arms supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, he warned that in the matters of supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine (tanks, artillery, aircraft, etc.) Germany should be careful not to become a target for Russia, so he ruled out the possibility of providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces with heavy tanks or fighter jets.