German minister rejects idea of arms deliveries to Ukraine

Germany’s foreign minister has rejected the idea of delivering weapons to Ukraine after the country’s president indicated that he would like military help from Berlin

BERLIN -- Germany's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected the idea of delivering weapons to Ukraine after the country's president indicated that he would like military help from Berlin. Germany, along with France, has led Western diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running conflict between Kyiv and Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. But efforts toward a political settlement are stalled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was quoted in an interview Tuesday with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Chancellor Angela Merkel has done a lot for Ukraine but “of course I had hoped for more from her, particularly in the Normandy format” of four-way talks between Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. “Germany can do more,” he said, pointing to recent comments by opposition Green party leader Robert Habeck during a visit to Ukraine.