Co-leader of German Left party opposes sending Ukraine more weapons

The co-leader of Germany's hard-left Die Linke (The Left) has spoken out against closer ties between NATO and Ukraine and the supply of more arms to Kiev's armed forces.

During a recent trip to Ukraine, Jan van Aken told dpa he thought it would be "a mistake to say that the only way we can be sure of security is to be in NATO."

He also said that "we should first try all the other options between simply supplying weapons and doing nothing."

As one option, he mentioned imposing tougher sanctions against the Kremlin, highlighting the oil tankers used by Russia for oil exports.

He said he found it "incomprehensible" that the German coast guard "turns a blind eye when several million US dollars' worth of oil passes by every day."

Putting oil tankers "on a leash" would cause "enormous pressure," he said.

The pressure on Russia could also be increased by China, which describes itself as neutral in the war. "China made another offer to the West in March - along with Brazil," he said. Germany and Europe should respond to this and enable the start of peace negotiations.

In his view, it is important for an end to the war not just to sign a peace treaty, but for Ukraine to also receive material security guarantees, which could come from Europe. "But a material security guarantee could also be a ceasefire line with Chinese and US soldiers walking around as blue helmets," he said as an example.

It was the first visit by the left-wing politician to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.