'Manifesto for Peace': Over 250,000 Sign Petition Calling Germany to Stop Arming Ukraine

The authors of the petition suggest that negotiating does not mean surrendering, and that engaging in talks may help prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths.

A quarter of a million people have signed an online petition urging German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to stop increasing the flow of weapons to Ukraine and to push for a peaceful resolution of the conflict instead.

The petition, started on change.org by German politician Sahra Wagenknecht and journalist Alice Schwarzer, accrued over 250,000 signatures about two days since its creation.

The petition’s authors argue that Ukraine is going to end up a “depopulated, devastated country” soon if the fighting there continues, and insist that Kiev has no chance of prevailing against the “world's largest nuclear power.”

“We call on the Chancellor to stop the escalation in arms deliveries. Now! He should lead a strong alliance for a ceasefire and peace negotiations at both German and European level,” the petition states. “Now! Because every lost day costs up to 1,000 more human lives - and brings us closer to a 3rd World War.”

The petition also notes that negotiations do not equal surrender – rather, it means “making compromises on both sides” in order to prevent “hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse.”

“That's what we think too, and that's what half of the German population thinks,” the petition’s authors claim. “It's time to listen to us!”

Having tweeted that “the Manifesto for Peace already has a quarter of a million supporters,” Wagenknecht also called upon people to join a protest in Berlin on February 25 “against armament deliveries and for peace and diplomacy.”

This development comes as Germany is poised to send Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine and is about to start training Ukrainian crews to operate these war machines.

Commenting earlier this month on these impending tank shipments, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that Russia is once again “being threatened with German tanks” that have “crosses” painted on their sides, referring to the Nazi German tank armadas that were unleashed upon the Soviet Union during World War II.