Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki sees growing distrust of Germany in Europe because of the Berlin government's Ukraine policy.
"I would say that a year ago there was a lot of trust many other countries had in Germany," Morawiecki told the German mass-circulation Bild newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday evening. "Now this pendulum has moved towards mistrust. Especially within the family of Central and Eastern European countries and also members of the European Union."
Germany could provide much more support to Ukraine, he said.
At the same time, he accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of still misjudging Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We see ... that Germany is trying to be half pregnant, to think a bit new and to support Ukraine. But at the same time, they - I mean the government and the chancellor in particular - still seem to believe that it should be business as usual with Russia. I don't think that will ever be possible with this quasi-totalitarian regime."
Morawiecki also expressed scepticism about talks with the head of the Kremlin.
"I think it's wrong because it only gives Putin oxygen and doesn't achieve anything. Putin actually achieves his goals with such talks, because he shows the rest of the world and his own people, 'Look, I'm in great demand, everyone wants to talk to me, everything depends on me.'"
In the debate over sending Western fighter jets to Ukraine, Morawiecki expressed openness to the delivery of F16 aircraft. "If this was a decision of the whole NATO, I would be in favour of sending these fighter jets."
