Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has described Russia's war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine as a "break in civilisation".

The Green politician used a term that is often used to describe the Holocaust at a NATO meeting in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday. This in turn is the term used almost worldwide for the genocide of Europe's Jewish population by the National Socialists with around six million dead.

Baerbock said specifically: "We are witnessing in a brutal way that the Russian President is now using cold as a weapon of war - a brutal break not only with international law, but with our civilization." The bombing of infrastructure means that families with young children have to live in sub-zero temperatures without electricity, water and heat.

A little later, the Foreign Minister added: "I could never have imagined that this brutal break in civilization would be carried out in this way in recent years. (...) If infrastructure is bombed in a targeted manner, then one willingly accepts that Children, the elderly, families freezing to death, dying of thirst, starving."

Meeting of the NATO countries

At a meeting in the Romanian capital Bucharest, the foreign ministers of the 30 NATO countries are discussing further support options for Ukraine. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, this will include the delivery of so-called non-lethal goods. This means, for example, winter equipment for the armed forces, medical material or jammers for countering drones. NATO's delivery of deadly weapons and ammunition is said to remain a matter for individual member states because of the risk of further escalation of the conflict with Russia.