Ukrainians face decrease in support from Germany

Berlin plans to decrease financial aid to Ukraine as conservative politicians complain of money being given to refugees.

Transcript

00:00A memorial for Ukraine in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin serves as a constant reminder

00:09of the war. What has been less stable is support in Germany for Ukrainians.

00:15Marina Shuligina, who heads a Ukrainian group in Berlin, says she's noticed a drop in donations.

00:21After two and a half years, somehow people got more distance. People want to distance

00:27themselves from the suffering, from the pain, from the war, and yet help definitely decrease.

00:37A survey released in January found a decrease in support for Ukraine joining the EU and

00:43NATO. Another survey released in June found 42 percent believed Germany had done too much

00:50for Ukrainian refugees.

00:52Last month, a politician with the sister party of the Christian Democrats told a newspaper

00:57that unemployed Ukrainians should return to Ukraine. And some politicians with the

01:02Christian Democrats have complained about the amount of money Ukrainians are getting

01:06from the government and that not enough of them are working. Now Kyiv is also facing

01:11the risk of a decrease in financial support.

01:15Germany is planning on cutting in half aid for Ukraine, expecting the country's needs

01:19to be met by money from the G7 and Europe.

01:23Vladimir Kaiserwetter, the Christian Democrat who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee

01:27in Parliament, told Euronews that the reduction is scandalous. He said that Germany must provide

01:32more resources to Ukraine and that the country's 1991 borders should be restored.

01:38Criticism over the reduction goes across the political spectrum. An MP with the Greens

01:43says Germany must maintain its aid for Ukraine.

01:47It's on a symbolic level a problem because at first it looks like that Germany is halving

01:54its support for Ukraine when it comes to money. In the end I'm sure we will not do this but

02:02in the moment it looks like that Germany will do it and that's a problem.

02:07Shulikina says she feels Germans are misperceiving the war as something not connected to their

02:13lives.

02:14Also Germany has to understand that because people start to fade in it, you know, a way

02:20like war seems not reachable but war is literally next door and Germany is not an island somewhere

02:28in the middle of nowhere. We are so much connected here to each other in Europe.

02:34Germany has boosted defence spending for itself and says the increase will continue in the

02:39coming years.