Germany must prepare to protect itself: Habeck

Germany's Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said he sees no hope of a quick and peaceful end to the Russian war against Ukraine, reported dpa.

"We long for peace. Yes. But the honest, bitter answer is: there will probably not be a quick, good end, even if we wish otherwise," he said in a video published on the X platform, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

"We have to adapt to the threat situation. Anything else would be naive," he said. Germany would therefore be well advised to invest more in its own security.

"We, Germany, the European Union, must protect ourselves all round, including from military attacks," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine is the bloodiest that Europe has seen since 1945.

"Every day is a day of death, and there is no end in sight. On the contrary, Putin's Russia is switching completely to a war economy and massively increasing weapons production," said Habeck, who is also Minister of Economics.

There have been arguments in Germany in recent weeks about the nature and extent of support for Ukraine, "some of them bitter and some of them hurtful," he said. With his Easter video, he wants to try to sort out the arguments and evaluate them from his point of view.

"I spoke out in favour of supplying weapons to Ukraine early on, and I am still in favour of us continuing to support them with more and more military equipment," said Habeck.

However, he has respect for a position that comes to a different conclusion than he does on the subject of arms deliveries to Ukraine for principled moral reasons or religious convictions.

"I also understand only too well that people are afraid of an escalation of the war. I am also worried." The question is what attitude and what action is necessary to counter this threat. The government would have to deal with this on an ongoing basis, he said.

Habeck spoke out against "freezing the war."

"As much as I understand that there is talk of freezing the war in view of the high number of victims, this position ignores the fact that only the Ukrainians can decide what price they are willing to pay and on what terms they want to achieve a ceasefire or end the war," he said.

Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had discussed a "freeze" of the conflict - in other words, a ceasefire to enable a negotiated solution. He was widely criticized for this.

Habeck said that Putin wanted to destroy the unification and unity of Europe. "If Putin is successful with his war in Ukraine, he will continue."

That is why it is also important for security in Germany and peace in Europe that Ukraine successfully defends itself and that Germany helps.