Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock justified the German government's refusal to provide the Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles by saying that no other country is sending such weapon systems to the Ukraine.

"We deliver in step with other countries," said the Green politician in the government survey in the Bundestag on Wednesday.

The minister claimed for the government that there were "no easy answers" to averting the Russian attack, that "the Russian president alone" could simply stop the war.

Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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She asked for understanding for the Federal Government's weighing decisions in "this complex situation".

For one, the government wants to "only do what we can keep up" and not just make quick public announcements.

Moreover, the decisive criterion is that Western support must “really” help and benefit the brave defenders in Ukraine.

After all, the consequences of Western support measures are also uncertain: "We don't know what Putin's next step is," said Baerbock.

Preparations for a "ring exchange"

She also justified the initial reluctance of the federal government to provide information about German arms deliveries.

Baerbock stated that when the general decision was made and announced at the end of February to also support Ukraine with the delivery of weapons, in order to protect the delivery routes, it was decided "not to talk about it so that the weapons reach their destination".

However, since the pressure on the federal government continues and there are always questions, she wants to present essential elements of the delivery list, said Baerbock.

She listed: thousands of rocket-propelled grenades, numerous Stinger-type anti-aircraft missiles, more than 1,000 Strehla-type anti-aircraft missiles, a six-figure number of hand grenades, explosive charges, anti-tank mines, artillery ammunition.

In the light of the war atrocities discovered on April 6 in Bucha north of Kyiv, the West had agreed that it had to "react again".

Since then, the idea of ​​a "ring exchange" had been prepared, in the course of which Ukraine would receive heavy weapons of Soviet design, for example from Eastern European NATO countries.

The resulting equipment gaps in these countries should then be replaced by Western countries.

Germany is currently preparing a project with the Netherlands to equip Ukraine with heavy military equipment and to provide the necessary training for soldiers.

As a further limiting criterion for military aid, Baerbock named "that we have to secure our own alliance territory".

Germany has a responsibility to “support our Baltic friends and neighbors”.

She promised that the Bundeswehr would have to strengthen its presence on NATO's eastern flank.

The hitherto applicable "trip wire" logic, according to which the presence of NATO troops in those countries should only serve to immediately evaluate a Russian attack as an attack on the entire alliance, is not enough.

The atrocities of war in Bucha showed what could happen if places came under Russian control.

Therefore, "we must be able to defend the Baltic States from the very first moment".