Germany could provide more aid to Ukraine, says Bundestag member

Germany is providing Ukraine with less military assistance than it could and has been slow to deliver long-range weapons.

This assessment was made in an interview with Ukrinform by Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the Bundestag and the Foreign Affairs Committee, who arrived in Kyiv on September 12.

Evaluating the current government led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which, while in opposition, previously criticized the former cabinet for insufficient military aid, Kiesewetter said: “Unfortunately, it is not acting decisively at all.”

According to Kiesewetter, under the new government, neither the goals of support nor the strategy have changed.

“The prevailing formula remains: Ukraine must not lose, and Russia must not win. This continues to be approached with a ‘too little, too late’ mindset, focusing mainly on defensive operations,” the politician noted.

He does not expect this stance to change and believes that certain items, such as long-range precision weapons like the Taurus missile, are unlikely to be delivered. However, the former Bundeswehr officer expects the Taurus debate to resurface repeatedly “until Germany finally takes the right step.” He emphasizes that there are currently no technical or legal obstacles preventing the delivery of these missiles — it is a matter of political will, with opposition coming mainly from Social Democrats, the junior coalition partners.

“From a political perspective, this is critical, as supplying Taurus missiles aligns with our security interests; the system could effectively contribute to Ukraine’s defense and stabilization,” Kiesewetter said.

The Bundestag member also pointed out that, relative to GDP, Germany still lags significantly behind Nordic and Baltic countries in providing military support. In his view, the federal government should do much more, including financing Ukrainian defense production, strengthening sanctions, and not delaying the transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine.

As previously reported, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Germany is the largest supplier of aid to Ukraine.