Weapons deliveries: Leopard tanks for Ukraine: Pressure on Scholz is increasing

Berlin.
Chancellor Scholz is under increasing pressure to agree to the delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine. Apparently he has conditions for this.

When it comes to tanks, the pressure on the federal government is increasing. This Thursday morning, the new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is coming in quick succession: In the morning he will receive his certificate of appointment from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, after which he will take his oath of office in the German Bundestag. This is followed by the first international test for the Lower Saxony – meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The Americans had hitherto avoided everything to make the federal government public under pressure to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. But behind the scenes, the direction is clear. “We anticipate an expansion of Western military aid to Ukraine – the supply of main battle tanks is part of the discussion,” a senior US diplomat told our editorial team.

Ukraine war – background and explanations for the conflict

The supply of main battle tanks has been discussed in the West since December

This also applies to the meeting of the Ukraine-supporting countries this Friday in Rhineland-Palatinate Ramstein. There should also be talks about better coordination of international arms aid, it said.

According to US officials, officials from the United States, Germany, France and Britain have been talking about more heavy weapons for Ukraine, including main battle tanks, since last December. The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced that it would send 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.

So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks to the Ukraine, saying that Germany “does not want to go it alone” on this issue. This argument is becoming less and less important.

He only spoke to US President Joe Biden on Tuesday. According to “Süddeutsche Zeitung” he said a Leopard delivery under the Condition admitted that the United States, in turn, provided Ukraine with Abrams-type main battle tanks. According to the report, however, Biden did not commit himself in the conversation.

Scholz: Germany continues to send “large quantities of weapons” to Kyiv

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Chancellor did not rise the tank question a. “We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary,” he said in his speech on Wednesday. So that Russia’s war of aggression fails, Germany is “continuously supplying” and in close consultation with international partners “large quantities of weapons,” explained Scholz.

The Chancellor had already spoken to US President Joe Biden on Tuesday

In response to a question from the audience as to why Germany was not sending Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine, he answered evasively: after the USA and Great Britain, the Federal Republic was the third largest arms supplier. Scholz highlighted the delivery of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 and the Iris-T air defense system.

At the same time, the Chancellor emphasized: “We will prevent this from becoming a war between Russia and NATO.” According to American diplomats, Scholz’s public statements are above all for the German audience definitely.

Scholz had previously resisted the delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. As an argument, he cited that no German solo effort may give. In the meantime, however, Poland and other EU and NATO countries want to supply their own Leopard tanks to the Ukraine and are pushing for the necessary approval from the manufacturer country Germany.

Selenskyj: Defense weapons must take effect more quickly

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urgently appealed to the world to deliver military goods to his country more quickly. “Defensive weapons need to grab faster than Russia’s attack packages,” he said in his video-transmitted speech. At the same time, he campaigned for Ukraine to join NATO.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament made an unusual decision Pressure on Scholz: With a large majority, the MPs called on the Chancellor to set the course for the Leopard delivery. Scholz should initiate a “European consortium of relevant European countries to deliver Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine without further delay”.

Previously, the Polish President Andrzej Duda, his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto appealed to Scholz to approve the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. All three countries have the military equipment manufactured in Germany, but need approval from Berlin for a delivery.