Berlin – German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has said that building up weapons in east Ukraine will only push resolution of the conflict there even further away.
“Arms supplies per se will be a catalyst of the Ukrainian conflict and push the conflict resolution that we want even further. Ukraine already has too many weapons,” the minister told a security conference in Munich on Feb. 6.
Earlier German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed that he hopes to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by building up weapons had nothing to do with the reality in eastern Ukraine.
It emerged earlier this week that the White House was contemplating the possibility of supplying Javelin man-portable anti-tank missile systems, small-arms weapons and munitions to Kyiv. Until now the U.S. has provided Ukraine with non-lethal gear only: bullet-proof vests, night vision devices, communications systems and so on.
