So far, Germany and other Western NATO countries have not delivered tanks directly to Ukraine, but only through a ring exchange: Poland and Slovakia were provided with tanks from their own stocks. These countries, in turn, passed on their own tanks – mostly still of Soviet design – to Ukraine.
Germany is supplying Ukraine with Marder tanks and a Patriot missile defense system. The US will also supply the government in Kyiv with light Bradley armored personnel carriers and, as planned, Patriot systems. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden agreed on this in a telephone call on Thursday evening.
Both governments also want to take care of the training of Ukrainian soldiers on the respective weapon systems. The German-American agreement is the result of votes that have been ongoing between the two governments since December 10th. Paris had advanced and had already announced on Wednesday that it would deliver heavily armed reconnaissance tanks.
According to Zelenskyj “clear signal”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had interpreted the French decision as a “clear signal” to other Western countries. “There is no rational reason why western-style tanks have not yet been delivered to Ukraine,” he said.
So far, Kyiv has only received Soviet-made battle tanks and armored personnel carriers from Eastern European NATO countries. Anti-aircraft or armored recovery vehicles from Western manufacturers were also supplied, but no battle tanks or armored personnel carriers like those of the Marder or Leopard 2 type from German production.
The government in Kyiv has been asking Germany for these weapon systems for months – until Thursday without success. Scholz has always emphasized that Germany will not act alone on this issue and pointed out that no other NATO country has ever sent such tanks to Ukraine.
The question now is whether the AMX-10 RC reconnaissance tank promised by France is actually a new quality weapon. Zelenskyj answers her with a resounding yes: “France is taking defense support for Ukraine to a new level,” he says. The wheeled tank is mainly used for reconnaissance, but has a cannon that almost reaches the caliber of the Bundeswehr’s Leopard 2 battle tank. The Elysee Palace therefore speaks of a “light battle tank”.
During a visit to Norway on Thursday, Green Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck emphasized that the decisions and considerations of France and the USA would “certainly also influence the German debate”. “In the past, we have always adapted our support to the Ukrainian army to the situation,” stressed Habeck. The decisions of the federal government were based on the dynamics on the battlefield.
“No more arguments at all”
Green European politician Anton Hofreiter called for the delivery of 200 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and other European countries to Ukraine before the decision that Berlin will supply Marder tanks. In any case, the argument of going it alone is now invalid.
The chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), also asked Scholz to clear the way for tank deliveries. Union parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul praised Macron for taking over political leadership. The chancellor now has “no argument at all” against the delivery of Marder armored personnel carriers, he wrote on Twitter.
War in Ukraine claims more and more victims
After the destruction of a Russian military base in the Donbas, Ukraine reports 800 Russian soldiers killed in just one day. Most died in fighting in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Putin’s calculus does not work
Russia, which has been largely on the defensive at least since Ukraine’s successful counter-offensives in the fall, has been relying on targeted strikes from the air against the civilian infrastructure in large parts of Ukraine for weeks. According to Western experts, Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin has two ulterior motives: the repeated destruction of the electricity and heating supply in particular is intended to wear down the civilian population and thus increase the pressure on the political leadership in Kyiv to agree to the cession of territory.
The second calculation is to weaken the support of the West or to achieve a split in the hitherto united front against Russia. Neither has succeeded so far: polls in Ukraine show clear support for the war, despite the suffering and deprivation. And the West continues to stand united behind Kyiv, even increasing its financial and military-logistical commitment.
