Several NATO countries have provided and continue to provide large quantities of arms and ammunition to Ukraine in support of the Russian invasion, including Germany. Nevertheless, Berlin had to and still has to be accused of only hesitantly fulfilling commitments. The debate is currently revolving around Leopard and Marder type battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Ukraine takes the position – quite offensively – that there is “no rational argument” once morest delivery of the weapon systems, only “abstract fears and excuses”, as Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recently said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently emphasized the importance of Western weapons: “Every action on the battlefield is a specific operation that must be supported by specific weapons.”
“A country like Germany does not wait”
What’s more: on the occasion of his visit to Berlin, the Ukrainian parliamentary speaker Ruslan Stefantschuk called for Germany to play a “leading role” in the supply of battle tanks. Berlin should just “live up to this leadership role and be the first country to deliver battle tanks,” he said. “A country like Germany doesn’t wait for what others do.”
Stefantschuk demanded a quick decision. “I ask myself: What else do you need, what should happen to make a decision? Precisely because of the approaching winter, a decision should be made quickly.” He emphasized: “The quicker we get weapons, the quicker we win.” So far, no NATO country has supplied Ukraine with Western-style main battle tanks. Anti-aircraft tanks of the Gepard type came from Germany, along with special ammunition, the Panzerhaubitze 2000, rocket launchers and artillery radar.
domestic differences
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who is currently being put under pressure by the military successes of the Ukrainian army in the domestic political debate regarding arms deliveries, promised Ukraine in August that he would “provide Ukraine with what it needs for its defense”. . Except: battle tanks.
Scholz has been vehemently confronted with corresponding demands for days. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), for example, is now pushing for a quick decision. The German arms deliveries would “obviously very clearly” help to “save human lives,” she told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Thursday edition). Her party colleague, Economics Minister Robert Habeck, has meanwhile been campaigning for new rules on the export of weapons to crisis areas.
On Thursday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) announced that Ukraine would receive Mars II air defense systems including 200 missiles, as well as 50 Dingo all-protection transport vehicles. She did not comment on tanks.
“Germany, we are waiting for your word”
“There are no tanks for six months because there is no ‘political decision’ regarding it,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. Because of German hesitation, Russia might continue “terror” and Ukrainians would have to die. “Germany, we are waiting for your word.” And on Thursday: “Germany must be on the right side of history. This is only possible through leadership in supplying arms to Ukraine and rejecting any partnership with Russia.” (…) “Does the Chancellor understand?”
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However, Scholz and Lambrecht constantly warn once morest German going it alone. They point out that no other country has yet delivered Western-style armored personnel carriers or main battle tanks to Ukraine. Baerbock also emphasized that a possible delivery of German battle tanks might only be decided together – “in a coalition and internationally”.
In the “crucial phase that Ukraine is currently in, I don’t think this is a decision that should be delayed for long,” said Baerbock. Lambrecht noted that there was also an international consensus that Germany In addition, Germany runs the risk of being unable to fulfill its obligations within NATO due to large arms deliveries.
Bundeswehr “at the limit”?
Keyword international: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is obviously not afraid. In order to ensure “that Russia, that President (Vladimir, n.) Putin does not win the war in Ukraine, we are also strengthening our own security and strengthening the alliance,” he was quoted as saying last week. Other militarily strong NATO countries such as France are under no comparable pressure, the British Financial Times said on Thursday. The German decision would amount to a kind of international “litmus test”.
In addition to the foreign policy component, one aspect of the domestic political debate is the question of whether the German Bundeswehr, which has also been struggling with material problems for years, can even afford the arms deliveries in the long term. The Bundeswehr is “at the limit,” Lambrecht recently declared. Bundeswehr Inspector General Eberhard Zorn said on Wednesday: “My advice is really to acknowledge our numbers: we need everything that we give back.”
Why just German tanks?
Specifically, Kyiv wants the Leopard 2 main battle tank from Germany, the 2A4 version of which is also in use in the Austrian Armed Forces. The tank had been built by the German armory Krauss-Maffei Wegmann since 1978, sold to numerous countries or produced under license there. Despite a combat weight of – depending on the version – more than 50 tons, it is considered to be very manoeuvrable, has a speed of over 70 kilometers per hour, is heavily armored, can drive through deep water and is equipped with a 120-millimeter cannon with a range of up to 5,000 meters and two machine guns.
The crew consists of four people. In combat, the main battle tank is usually used together with armored personnel carriers such as the Marder, from which the crew can dismount. The interaction of both weapon systems, it was said several times in analyzes by military experts, is particularly relevant for the recapture of occupied areas and in combat in urban areas – and is therefore relevant for the Ukrainian army.
