Germany's conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz has sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his failure to authorize the delivery of heavy weaponry to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia's looming eastern offensive.
The German government has been widely criticized for failing to sign off on the delivery of heavy weaponry to Ukraine and for blocking a wholesale EU embargo of Russian oil and gas imports.
"With his behaviour, he is endangering the cohesion of the entire community of states vis-à-vis Russia," Merz told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper on Friday.
"We want to know what is being delivered and, above all, for what reasons the German government does not want to deliver available material," said Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats.
Germany has supplied Ukraine with military supplies including grenades, anti-aircraft rockets, machine guns and ammunition, but not heavy weapons such as tanks, helicopters and fighter planes.
"If we don't succeed in stopping Putin in Ukraine and pushing him back, then he will continue," Merz told FAZ, adding: "We have to stop him now."
