The Russian Ambassador to Berlin, Sergey Nechaev, told Russin news agency Sputnik that Germany's lethal weapons sales to Kiev are undesirable and would not contribute to the restraint of bilateral relations between Russia and Germany.

"The country's leading politicians, including Chancellor [Olaf Scholz] and German Foreign Minister [Annalena Baerbock], share the understanding that it is unacceptable to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, given that it would in no way facilitate either the settlement process or the constructive development of Russian-German relations," Nechaev said.

In recent weeks, Kiev has chastised Berlin for refusing to give direct military support to Ukraine and for obstructing NATO partners' weaponry transfers.

On Monday, Scholz downplayed the accusations, stating that Germany would not allow weapons to be exported to crisis areas and that Berlin prefers to support Ukraine economically rather than militarily.

Russia has frequently asserted that escalating fears of a Russian incursion into Ukraine are being used as a pretext for NATO's military posture in Eastern Europe to be expanded.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has stated that Moscow does not incite tensions in Ukraine and that tension is purposefully stoked by the West to "mask Kiev's course of sabotage of the Minsk agreements on Donbas."

Earlier, the US delivered "lethal aid" to Kiev. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov revealed that the Ukrainian military has already received weapons from the United States as part of their latest military aid package. 

By the end of December 2021, the Biden administration approved sending a security package worth $200 million to Ukraine, which includes lethal defensive assistance such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and ammunition.