Flags on the Bundestag building in Berlin, Germany. Archival photoMOSCOW, 28 May. Germany does not supply Western-style infantry fighting vehicles and tanks to Kyiv, as it adheres to the unified position of both the federal government and NATO allies, Zimtje Meller, state secretary of the German Ministry of Defense and member of the Bundestag from the SPD, said in an interview with the German ZDF channel.
"The German government and Western countries have a common position not to supply infantry fighting vehicles and tanks of Western models",» Meller emphasized, answering the question of why Berlin is delaying the transfer of weapons to Kyiv.
This statement caused a public outcry in Germany against the backdrop of reports by dpa and Die Zeit, who previously wrote that there were informal agreements among NATO member countries to refuse to supply certain types of weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, the defense ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Yana Chernokhova and Yaroslav Nagy, denied this information. Thus, the head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, Yana Puglierin, wrote on Twitter that she was «surprised and perplexed» because of Meller's statement. «Officials from the Czech Republic working in the Department of Defense and with NATO told me that they had not heard anything about the informal agreement of Western countries not to supply Western-style infantry fighting vehicles and tanks,» Puglierin said. Against the backdrop of the Russian special operation to protect the Donbass, which began on February 24, Washington and NATO allies continue to pump weapons to Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the supply of Western weapons only prolongs the conflict, and transport with them becomes a legitimate target.