German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could take the advantage of the transition period after the US elections to impose Moscow's superiority in Ukraine. She urged Berlin and Europe to increase aid to Kiev, AFP reported.
"We don't have time to wait until spring. Now is the transition phase that Putin has waited for and aspired to," Berbok told a conference in Berlin.
Donald Trump's victory in the US election calls into question Washington's continued support for Kiev at a time when Russia is making progress in Ukraine.
The German foreign minister's message is aimed both at EU member states and domestic audiences in Germany, where there is uncertainty over the date of elections expected after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition last week.
According to Berbock, Russia's war against Ukraine is at a crucial stage and Kiev's air defences are in desperate need of reinforcement.
Before the US election, "there were more drone attacks than ever on Kiev, deliberately targeting the capital," she said.
Berbok argued that "the war has reached a new dimension."
Germany is the EU's largest economy and Kiev's second biggest military backer after Washington. The foreign minister called for the country to increase spending on Ukraine's defense, particularly to help repel Russian drones.
"In addition to measures at European level, we now need more financial resources in the budget," the minister stated. This sounded like a call for a loosening of Germany's debt rules, which have been at the centre of recent political disputes.
In addition, the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence set by the NATO military alliance "is no longer sufficient in the current situation", she said.
To reduce political uncertainty and clear the way for an agreement on next year's budget, Berbock called for clarity on the timetable for Germany's upcoming elections.
When the coalition government collapsed after months of turmoil, Chancellor Olaf Scholz initially promised a confidence vote in mid-January. This was expected to lead to elections at the end of March - half a year earlier than previously planned.
But faced with calls for a quicker resolution of the crisis, the chancellor declared over the weekend that he was ready to hold the vote this year. | BGNES
