German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hold a joint news conference at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on May 28, 2025. Germany owes a historical debt to Ukraine due to its actions in World War II, writes Andreas Umland. (Shutterstock/EUS-Nachrichten)

Germany Cannot Abandon Ukraine. This Is Why

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Nazi Germany’s crimes against millions of Ukrainians give Berlin a special obligation toward Kyiv, an obligation the Far Left and Far Right both ignore.

Since the United States cut its military aid by 99 percent in 2025, Germany has become Ukraine’s most important backer. Its budgetary, military, and humanitarian support, both bilateral and through the European Union, is now decisive for Ukraine’s survival. Germany was the largest single provider of military aid to Ukraine in 2025, and its 2026 budget earmarks a record €11.5 billion ($12.8 billion) for the country. Germany has also granted temporary protection to some 1.3 million Ukrainians since 2022.

Yet this partnership is new, and its future is uncertain. Until 2014, Berlin’s main partner in Eastern Europe was Moscow. Until 2022, despite Russia’s already ongoing war against Ukraine, Germany kept up most of its energy cooperation with Russia, including the two Nord Stream pipelines. Many Germans still want friendly relations and economic ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia restored.

Germany’s 12-year debate about how to secure “peace in Europe” is today driven by the radical left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW)—renamed the Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason in October 2026—and the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD), along with a number of pseudo-pacifist public intellectuals. Although Ukraine is the victim of an expansionist war, these parties and their millions of followers argue that it does not deserve further German support. Under a veneer of peace advocacy, they are furthering the interests of a neo-imperialist Russia.

The rise of the AfD, now Germany’s most popular political party, has moved these ideas from public debate into the realm of policy promotion. On October 14, 2026, the AfD and BSW factions in the newly elected state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, which together hold 44 of its 83 seats, adopted a motion titled “Peace Talks Instead of an Expansion of the War in Ukraine.” It calls for an end to Berlin’s military and non-humanitarian financial support for Ukraine, and to sanctions on Russia, on the idea that these concessions would bring about a ceasefire.

In practice, such a policy would at best produce a Russian “victor’s peace” (Siegfrieden), with Ukraine’s partial or full capitulation. At worst, it would enable a Russian offensive deep into Ukraine and........

© The National Interest