Ukraine has been a pain in Germany's neck, Nord Streams are the most visible result of that but then there are also anecdotes of Merkel ignoring Yushchenko, Ger

Ukraine has been a pain in Germany's neck, Nord Streams are the most visible result of that but then there are also anecdotes of Merkel ignoring Yushchenko, German delegations not attending Ukrainian independence parades and so on. Even now Merkel is openly saying "no regrets" in the face of the bona fide genocide, that's how little empathy German leadership has for Ukraine. I think the calculus was that Ukraine is never going to be in NATO and so its future is at best irrelevant for Germany, and at worst they'd prefer it absorbed by Russia who Germans enjoy dealing with. But in the meantime Eastern European countries gained power, and they are really not okay with Russian imperial project (Hungary aside). So now Germany, being an ally with Eastern Europe on paper, has to do something, so they are reluctantly doing the bare minimum.