Germany’s offer to send 5,000 helmets to Ukraine provokes outrage

Germany has provoked outrage in some quarters after it offered to supply 5,000 military helmets to Ukraine to help it defend itself against a possible Russian invasion.

About 100,000 Russian troops are believed to be on the border with Ukraine. While countries like the U.S. and U.K. have sent military hardware to Ukraine, Germany has been conspicuously reluctant to send equipment.

The offer of helmets, made on Wednesday, has been derided by some Ukraine officials. For one, Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, dismissed the offer as “a joke” and said it had left him “speechless.”

“The behaviour of the German government leaves me speechless. The defence ministry apparently hasn’t realized that we are confronted with perfectly equipped Russian forces that can start another invasion of Ukraine at any time,” he told the Bild newspaper on Wednesday.

“What kind of support will Germany send next?” he asked. “Pillows?”

Germany’s defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, said Wednesday that Berlin was responding to a request for military equipment, specifically helmets, according to Reuters. The Bild newspaper also reported that the German government had received a request for help from Ukraine in which it stated its need for 100,000 combat helmets and tactical vests.

Germany previously said it would supply a fully equipped field hospital to Ukraine, but German officials have appeared reluctant to send more defensive weapons.

Last weekend, Germany’s defense minister said during an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that sending arms to Ukraine would not be helpful as attempts to defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine are still ongoing.

“We are standing on Kyiv’s side. We have to do everything to de-escalate. Currently, arms deliveries would not be helpful in this respect; there is agreement on this in the German government,” Lambrecht told the paper last Saturday, according to a translation by Deutsche Welle.

Her comments come after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a news conference last Friday that in recent years, “Germany has not supported the export of lethal weapons,” DW reported.

In addition, Germany has reportedly blocked Baltic nation Estonia from providing German-origin military support to Ukraine, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal last Friday.

Last week, Germany’s new chancellor said that “staying silent is not a sensible option” after years of tension on Europe’s doorstep. But while Germany and France may prefer to rely on crisis talks with Russia and Ukraine to try to avert a possible confrontation (the four countries met on Wednesday for talks in Paris), NATO and the U.S. are trying to arm Ukraine — so it can defend itself — without sending troops into the country.

As Ukraine is not a…