Germany

BERLIN, January 19. /TASS/: Germany is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine but it will continue to provide Kiev with the necessary military assistance, Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday in Berlin, speaking to reporters after being sworn in.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany faced mounting pressure to supply battle tanks to Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aired frustration about not obtaining enough weaponry as Western allies conferred Thursday on how best to support Ukraine nearly 11 months into Russia’s invasion.

LUETZERATH, Germany, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Environmental activist Greta Thunberg swiftly resumed campaigning on Wednesday after she was briefly detained in Germany during a protest against a coal mine expansion, tweeting that protecting the climate was not a crime.

"Yesterday I was part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening," tweeted Thunberg, whose whereabouts are unclear.

"Climate protection is not a crime."

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday he will appoint a regional official as the new defense minister following the resignation of the much-criticized Christine Lambrecht.

The defense minister-designate, Boris Pistorius, is a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party and has served as interior minister of Lower Saxony state since 2013.

“I am very pleased to have won Boris Pistorius, an outstanding politician from our country, for the post of defense minister,” Scholz said in a written statement.

GRAFENWOEHR TRAINING AREA, Germany (AP) — Monday was just Day Two for Ukrainian soldiers at the U.S. military’s new training program, but the message was coming through loud and clear.

These are urgent times. And the lessons they will get in the next five weeks on weapons, armored vehicles and more sophisticated combat techniques are critical as they prepare to defend their country against the Russian invasion.

BERLIN, January 16. /TASS/: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has accepted Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht’s resignation, Deputy Government Spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said at a briefing on Monday.

"The chancellor respects Lambrecht’s decision and is grateful to her for the great job she did in this complicated and challenging time. The chancellor will soon present his proposal to the president on a potential successor," Hoffmann noted.

When asked if Scholz had accepted the minister's resignation, she answered in the affirmative.

BERLIN, January 16. /TASS/: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked outgoing Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht for her work and pledged that he would not drag out the search for a successor.

"I already have a clear idea of what will happen next [in the context of the search for a new minister], we will announce this in due time," the chancellor said in the city of Ulm on Monday, quoted by the NTV TV channel. According to Scholz, this will happen "very quickly."

BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government on Monday, the culmination of growing doubt about her ability to revive Germany's armed forces against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.

Her decision dealt a blow to Scholz at a time when Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany's defence capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill.

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Monday that a man has died after crashing a car into Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Images from the scene show the mangled wreck of the dark-colored sedan between two pillars of the capital’s popular sightseeing spot.

Poland’s consul in Berlin, Marcin Krol, tweeted that he could confirm that the “driver of the Mercedes that hit the Brandenburg Gate yesterday at 23:30 was a Polish citizen. The car was also registered in Poland.”

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s much-criticized defense minister announced her resignation Monday, as her department steers the massive project of modernizing the country’s military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

Christine Lambrecht said in a written statement that she had submitted her resignation request to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that “months of media focus on my person” had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germany’s security policy.