BERLIN, June 3 (DPA/EP) –
The President of the Parliament of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, this Friday, during a visit during which he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, demanded that Berlin supply more “modern weapons” to counter the Russian military offensive.
“Of course, what we need most of all is modern weapons. We can defend ourselves with old weapons from old stocks, but new weapons are more efficient,” said Stefanchuk, who came to Germany in military clothes, German DPA News reported.
He repeated the Ukrainian authorities’ call for Germany to deliver heavy weapons such as Leopard main battle tanks and Marder vehicles, and welcomed Scholz’s announcement on Wednesday about the delivery of heavy weapons, which has still not materialized.
With this in mind, the President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas Stefanchuk, has pledged Germany’s support. “The Bundestag is on the side of Ukraine. We will continue to support the country with humanitarian, military, financial and diplomatic assistance as best we can,” he said.
Bas also stressed that Stefanchuk’s first trip abroad since the Russian invasion began. “A sovereign Ukraine is part of a peaceful and democratic Europe. Your country has the right to choose its path in freedom and peace,” he entrusted to the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament.
For her part, the chair of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Afnes Strack-Zimmermann, has requested that Ukraine be given ammunition as part of a joint NATO effort. “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. It’s old Soviet ammunition,” he told dpa.
“We need a concentrated effort by NATO to deliver ammunition,” he said in response to criticism from the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andri Melnik, of the support provided by the German authorities so far. “If we’re honest, after a hundred days of war not a single piece of heavy equipment has arrived from Germany,” he regretted in statements to ARD.