Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Head of the Defence Committee in the German Bundestag, has criticised the decisions made by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which, in her opinion, made a full-scale Russian attack on Ukraine possible.

Strack-Zimmermann in an interview with German TV channels RTL and n-tv recalled that there were many supporters of the early admission of Ukraine into NATO in 2008, but Germany and France opposed it because of Russia's position.

According to the politician, the fact that the Ukrainians did not join NATO "was a big mistake on the part of the French and Angela Merkel at that time."

Strack-Zimmermann also believes that Germany should have sided with Ukraine and supported it with weapons after the Russian full-scale invasion. But it would be necessary to "rewrite the history of Angela Merkel, especially the history of the last few years and complete miscalculations."

Commenting on the prospects for the conflict, the head of the Bundestag Defence Committee suggested that it is unlikely to last as long as the First or Second World Wars.

At the same time, she added, Russian President Vladimir Putin had not counted on the broad and sustained support of Ukraine.

Germany and France blocked the provision of an action plan for NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia at the Bucharest NATO summit in 2008, fearing escalation from Russia. Since then, the Alliance has only promised entry to both of these countries "one day".

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Merkel refused to admit (Ukr) that her decision could have led to Russian aggression.