They went against the line of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed his disappointment that Berlin continued to refuse to deliver main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.
There is “no rational argument” for this attitude, only “abstract fears and excuses,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. Specifically, he called the “Leopard” battle tank and the “Marder” armored personnel carrier as a wish.
Foreign policy advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podoliak, told the “Bild” newspaper: “The German refusal to supply us with tanks during the successful counter-offensive is surprising and short-sighted.” His government is asking partners to “take their words responsibly and keep their promises — or publicly declare their renunciation of freedom.”
Scholz: “Not alone”
Scholz and the SPD-led Ministry of Defense have so far refused to deliver the battle tanks that Ukraine urgently wants. They argue that the NATO allies do not supply such war equipment either and that Germany cannot do this on its own. SPD foreign affairs expert Roth sees no obstacle in this, however: he called on the government to take action and quickly come to an agreement with the NATO allies, above all the USA, on tank deliveries.
“No one has yet delivered what is now required, i.e. armored personnel carriers, battle tanks, but such agreements are not set in stone,” said Roth on Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday. “That’s why we should now sit down in the EU, especially in NATO, with the United States and clarify what else we can deliver.” To his knowledge, “only the United States and Germany could deliver these tanks, which are now also expected from Ukraine,” said the chairman of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee.
The Greens and FDP coalition parties were also urging the government to change course with growing impatience. The Defense Ministry’s reluctance to deliver weapons is “at the expense of Ukraine,” said FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the AFP news agency. The chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee contradicted the ministry’s account, according to which everything that was possible was supplied by the Bundeswehr: “As Free Democrats, we do not share the line that the Federal Ministry of Defense is currently taking.”
Source: Nachrichten
