BERLIN

Activists from the environmental group Greenpeace held a demonstration Thursday in the German capital Berlin against Russia's war in Ukraine and an increase in Germany’s military spending. 

The group of activists gathered outside the Russian Embassy holding a banner with the words of well-known Russian writer Leo Tolstoy: "War is so unjust and ugly."

They also left stacks of white boxes outside the embassy imprinted with the names of some of the Ukrainian cities attacked by Russian forces.

Leonhard Dunnwald, an activist from Berlin Greenpeace, told Anadolu that Russia’s attack on Ukraine violated international law.

He argued, however, that Germany has used the war in Ukraine to increase its military expenditures, and "this worries us."

Dunnwald added that the money used for military expenditures in Germany would negatively affect efforts to tackle climate change and resolve other social problems.

Last year, Germany committed €100 billion ($105.9 billion) to defense spending.