German Chancellor Scholz says top priority is avoiding NATO confrontation with Russia

However, Scholz could soon be forced to take a clear position on whether heavy weapons can be sent directly from Germany to Ukraine. The Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that defence contractor Rheinmetall had applied for a licence to sell 100 Marder armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine.

According to the contractor, the Marders could be delivered quickly, but all military exports have to be approved by a committee on which the chancellor sits.

Germany has in the past allowed other countries, including the Netherlands, to send heavy weapons it made to Ukraine.

Separately, Scholz defended his decision not to immediately end German imports of Russian gas in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

"I absolutely do not see how a gas embargo would end the war. If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin were open to economic arguments, he would never have begun this crazy war," Scholz said.

"Secondly, you act as if this was about money. But it's about avoiding a dramatic economic crisis and the loss of millions of jobs and factories that would never again open their doors."

Scholz said that this would have considerable consequences not just for Germany but also for Europe and the future financing of the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Russia calls its invasion a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for a war that has killed thousands and uprooted a quarter of Ukraine's population.