Chancellor Scholz supports Ukraine receiving heavy weapons from NATO countries. However, they should not come directly from Germany. The traffic light government is therefore still crunching.
Despite his recent announcements, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is still under pressure in his own coalition over armaments aid for Ukraine.
For the Green politician Anton Hofreiter and the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Scholz’s statements on Tuesday evening do not go far enough. The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk was also dissatisfied.
Scholz has promised Ukraine to finance direct arms deliveries from German industry. “We asked the German armaments industry to tell us what material they can deliver in the near future,” he said on Tuesday. “Ukraine has now adopted a selection from that list and we are providing it with the funds necessary to purchase it.” As before, these include anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft equipment, ammunition “and also what can be used in an artillery battle”.
Call for heavy weapons
Melnyk criticized in the ZDF “heute journal” that there were no heavy weapons on the list of possible arms deliveries that Ukraine received from Germany a few weeks ago. “The weapons we need are not on this list.” However, the Bundeswehr would be able to supply Ukraine with the weapons that the country needs. He called the Marder infantry fighting vehicle.
“According to our information, the Bundeswehr has over 400 in number, and only a small part of them is involved in missions.” The German armaments industry could replace these tanks within a few weeks. Ukraine continues to hope that it will get these weapons as soon as possible.
However, Scholz did not speak of a direct delivery of heavy weapons from Germany on Tuesday. NATO partners who supply Soviet-designed weapons to Ukraine could, however, receive replacements from Germany. “It’s something we do together with many others who are following the same path as us.” Immediate usability and availability are important for weapon deliveries. According to Scholz, however, there should hardly be any deliveries from Bundeswehr stocks. “Here we have to recognize that the possibilities we have are reaching their limits,” he said.
Criticism also from Germany
Green politician Hofreiter told the news portal t-online: “Olaf Scholz’s announced support for our partner countries in arms deliveries to Ukraine is another step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.” He also told the editorial network Germany that it was really crucial that Ukraine quickly got heavier weapons.
The FDP defense politician Strack-Zimmermann welcomed on Twitter that Scholz would take up the proposal to supply Ukraine with weapons that can be used immediately via Eastern European partners, which Germany would then compensate. “But you have to fight for freedom and human rights, you don’t get them for free. There wasn’t enough concrete information for that today.” Criticism also came from the opposition Union. “Too little – too late”, that remains the bitter balance after Scholz’s press conference, wrote Deputy Union faction leader Johann Wadephul (CDU) on Twitter. “Germany is still not supplying heavy weapons, ie it is letting Ukraine down.”
The defense policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Lucassen, called for a decision by parliament. With a delivery of heavy weapons, “the Federal Republic will clearly not become a war party under international law,” he told the German Press Agency. “But there is a risk that Moscow will see things differently. The federal government must calculate this considerable risk and therefore submit a decision of this scope to the German Bundestag for a vote.”
Exchange of blows between Melnyk and Gabriel
The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken wants to meet with the Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk this Wednesday. “Especially in times when our hearts are heavy and the debates sometimes heated, it is all the more valuable to maintain open and trusting conversations,” she wrote about the conversation on Twitter. Melnyk made it clear that he was hoping for the go-ahead for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. He also expects a supply stop for Russian gas and oil. The entire federal government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP has rejected a general energy embargo.
In the past few weeks, Melnyk had repeatedly condemned the SPD’s earlier Russia course and called for more German arms deliveries to Ukraine. There was a tough exchange of blows at the weekend when former Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) criticized “targeted attacks” on Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a guest article for “Spiegel” and accused Melnyk of “conspiracy theories”.
Ahead of Esken’s meeting with Melnyk, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil spoke out in favor of clear EU accession prospects for Ukraine. «People in Ukraine are Europeans. They are fighting for our European values and with great determination against Putin’s brutal troops,” he told the German Press Agency. Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after Russia’s war of aggression began and is pushing for an accelerated process. Klingbeil was also present at an earlier meeting between Esken and Melnyk on April 6.
Source: Stern
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