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Germany has refused to provide Kyiv with weapons in a week in which the UK and the US refreshed their commitment to helping Ukraine’s military following increasing tensions over a buildup of Russian troops by its border. The defense minister of Germany Christine Lambrecht said there was consensus in the federal government that arms deliveries to Ukraine are currently not helpful. The ambassador of Ukraine to Berlin, Andriy Melnyk said this week his country wanted vessels to defend the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts from a Russian invasion. She said that German ships are among the best in the world. Melnyk said her country would not extend military support for Ukraine and emphasized other help it would provide, such as a field hospital worth $6 million.

Melnyk added, “We must do everything to de-escalate the situation”. She pointed out that Germany had also delivered respirators to Ukraine and injured Ukrainian soldiers are being treated in German hospitals. The rebuff has angered Kyiv, which summoned German ambassador Anka Feldguzen, to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. The foreign ministry said in a statement it took exception to comments by the Commander of the German Navy, Kai-Achim Schönbach, that Crimea seized by Russia in 2014, will never return to Ukraine, nor will the country ever meet NATO’s membership criteria. Kyiv said, “There is also deep disappointment with the German government’s position on not providing Ukraine with defense weapons”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had rejected similar Ukrainian requests for arms.

However, Germany’s new government pursues a more restrained arms-export policy, and some politicians there have argued that preventing a war should be taken into account. The US announced on Saturday that a shipment of lethal aid had arrived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv which included ammunition for front-line defenders. It is the first part of a $200m security support package approved last month by President Joe Biden in December. The US embassy in Kyiv said, “The United States and its allies and partners are standing together to expedite security assistance to Ukraine”. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace earlier announced that Britain would provide Ukraine with light armor defensive weapons and training. But the US or the UK didn’t say they would provide troops.