52% Back Ukraine Arms, 42% Say Germany Has Gone Too Far, Deutschland Poll Finds

Most Germans support continuing or even expanding arms deliveries to Ukraine, although opposition to military aid has reached its highest level in recent years, according to a new ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll. The survey, according to tagesschau.de, was conducted by infratest dimap from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 for German public broadcaster ARD. It found that 52% of respondents consider arms deliveries to Ukraine appropriate, including 38% who believe they are at the right level and 14% who would increase them.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Meanwhile, 42% said Germany is going too far with its weapons supplies – the highest share recorded in recent years. Support for military aid is particularly weak in eastern Germany, where a majority of respondents said arms deliveries had gone too far. The survey comes as concerns over Russia’s threat to Germany remain widespread. Some 56% of Germans said their country’s security is strongly or very strongly threatened by Russia, while 39% disagreed. Older Germans were significantly more likely to perceive Russia as a major security threat. Among those aged 65 and over, around two-thirds considered the threat very strong or strong, while respondents aged 18 to 34 were more divided. Russia was viewed as a security threat by majorities of supporters of every party represented in the Bundestag except the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Over two-thirds of AfD supporters said they considered Germany’s security to be little or not at all threatened by Russia. Other Topics of Interest Russia Changes Strategy: Non-Stop Alerts in Kyiv At the end of August, Russia switched its tactics in its air strikes against Kyiv from short, massive attacks to continuous bombardment by small groups of drones. The findings come amid renewed concerns in Germany over Russian hybrid attacks. The German government recently said it believed Russia was responsible for an attempted attack involving a drone found carrying explosives at Leipzig/Halle Airport and warned that Germany could face further Russian hybrid attacks. The ARD-DeutschlandTrend survey questioned 1,319 eligible voters in Germany through a combination of telephone and online interviews. The poll has a margin of error of roughly three percentage points for a result of 50%. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine and Germany are finalizing a bilateral Drone Deal to expand joint drone production and defense cooperation. Zelensky made the announcement Wednesday after a phone call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The agreement is expected to cover joint development and production of drones, missiles and related software. Ukrainian and German leaders discussc mutual Russian threat Several Ukrainian-German defense projects are already underway. Germany is financing 50,000 Shrike FPV drones produced by the Ukrainian company SkyFall under a contract worth about €90 million ($104 million), as well as 15,000 STRILA interceptor drones designed to counter Russian Shahed-type UAVs. Germany will send Ukraine new air defense packages this month as Kyiv faces an intensifying Russian drone campaign, Zelensky said Wednesday. The announcement comes as Russia has sharply increased its aerial attacks, launching around 1,500 drones against Ukraine over four days in late August, including about 800 jet-powered Shahed drones. The barrage is putting additional pressure on Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of the autumn and winter months, when Russia has repeatedly targeted critical infrastructure. Zelensky and Merz also discussed Russia’s attempted attack involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig Airport. Merz briefed Zelensky on Germany’s response, while Zelensky offered Ukraine’s expertise in countering Russian drone attacks. Germany has been one of Ukraine’s key air defense partners since Russia’s full-scale invasion, supplying systems including Patriot and IRIS-T. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.