German populist politician Sahra Wagenknecht, whose newly founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party debuted with 6.2% of the vote in the European Parliament elections, again called for an end to aid for Ukraine on Tuesday.
"We need ceasefire negotiations instead of more taxpayers' money from Germany for weapons to prolong the war," Wagenknecht said on Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Berlin for an international conference on Ukraine's reconstruction.
Wagenknecht accused Zelensky of refusing negotiations so far, but said that German have already footed a "war bill" of "at least €53 billion" ($57 billion).
"Instead of alternately financing destruction and reconstruction, we need a peace conference with all parties at the table," she said.
Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is currently occupying about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Wagenknecht, a former leader in the hard-left Die Linke, split to form her own populist party whose politics combine left-wing social policies with anti-immigration positions and EU scepticism.
