Agency Report

German defence chiefs on Thursday laid bare the “extremely limited” resources of Europe’s biggest economy’s to help pushback against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer admitted Berlin was guilty of “historical failure” in not bolstering itself militarily.

The defence minister in Angela Merkel’s cabinet said Germany had forgotten lessons from the past that “negotiation always comes first, but we have to be militarily strong enough to make non-negotiation not an option for the other side”.

“I’m so angry at ourselves for our historical failure. After Georgia, Crimea, and Donbas, we have not prepared anything that would have really deterred Putin,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer, referring to incursions carried out by Russia while Merkel was in power.

Her Twitter outburst came as the chief of the German land army, Alfons Mais, posted on the social network LinkedIn that “the options we can offer to politicians to support (NATO) are extremely limited.”

The Bundeswehr “is more or less bare,” he wrote in the stark admission.

Western allies had “seen it coming and were not in the position to come through with our arguments, to draw the lessons from the annexation of Crimea and to implement them,” the commander said.

“NATO territory is not directly threatened yet, even if our partners in the east feel the constantly growing pressure,” he said.

Mais said it was high time to bolster the army.

“When if not now is the time to… rebuild, otherwise we will not be able to carry out our constitutional mission or our obligations to our allies with any prospect of success,” he said.

His assessment was shared by former Bundeswehr chief Harald Kujat who told Rheinische Post that the equipment shortage the army faces meant it was “currently hardly capable of defending the alliance and the country”.