BERLIN, May 4. /TASS/. The number of Germans protesting the deliveries of heavy weapons to Kiev continues to rapidly grow. Thus, a petition urging German Chancellor Olaf Scholz not to supply such armaments to Ukraine as of May 4 has already amassed 203,913 signatures, according to the change.org website.
On April 29, about thirty cultural and art figures, including German journalists, musicians and artists as well as one of the major representatives of German post-war literature, writer and playwright Martin Walser, sent an open letter to Scholz calling on him not to supply heavy weapons to Kiev. The full text of the letter was published on the website of Germany’s Emma magazine. The authors warn that such deliveries may lead to a third world war. That said, they express their support for Scholz’s efforts on preventing the events in Ukraine from becoming a new global conflict.
"This is why we hope that you (the German chancellor - TASS) would recall your initial stance and won’t directly or indirectly supply more heavy arms to Ukraine. On the contrary, we are urging you to do everything possible for the soonest attainment of a ceasefire, for a compromise that both sides can accept," the letter said.
That said, the authors stressed that the deliveries of large quantities of heavy weapons to Kiev would make Germany itself a party to the conflict which in turn is fraught with risks of a global war.
On April 28, the majority of legislators in the Bundestag voted for a document urging the government to expand its military aid to Kiev as well as condemning the military action in Ukraine.
Until now, Scholz has been reserved on the issue of supplying heavy arms to Kiev and was under heavy pressure due to his unwillingness to deliver such weapons to Ukraine directly. In an interview with Spiegel published on April 22, he stressed that he was going to do everything in order for NATO not to become a party to the conflict which would trigger a global war. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, speaking at US Ramstein air base on April 26, said that Germany was ready to supply Ukraine with Gepard air defense systems.
Earlier, DPA, citing its sources, reported that the German government was preparing to send Soviet T-72 tanks to Ukraine via Slovenia using the principle of a so-called circular exchange. Slovenia is to hand over to Kiev tanks from its own reserves, while Germany pledged to replace them with Marder and Fuchs armored vehicles. Additionally, Welt, citing its sources, noted that the German government was planning to provide Ukraine with seven PzH 2000 howitzers from the Bundeswehr’s reserves.