Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused the German government of ignoring Kiev’s requests for Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles. He said Berlin had only given “abstract fears and excuses” for not providing more equipment. Kuleba tweeted: “Disappointing messages from Germany, while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now, to free people and save them from genocide. “Not even a logical argument as to why these weapons cannot be handed over, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?” He spoke on Tuesday after meeting his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, in Kyiv over the weekend. The Green party politician, who traveled by night train for her second visit as foreign minister to the Ukrainian capital, pledged further support from Germany, saying the progress the Ukrainian military had made in pushing back Russian forces was a “good argument’ for arms delivery from the West. But when pushed by Kuleba to specifically support the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks, Baerbock said: “We are already delivering heavy weapons.” He then listed the weapons systems Germany had already sent to Ukraine, referring to its multilateral exchange program and agreements it has with other Western partners, adding: “I know time is of the essence.” Baerbock is believed to want to boost German participation but must first win the support of the other parties in the three-party coalition government. Others in her party, led by co-leader Omid Nuripour, backed calls for a swift delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. “Everyone in the government knows that even more would be possible,” Nuripour told a German newspaper. Anton Hofreiter, a leading member of the Green party, said in an interview with Mediengruppe Bayern: “Sooner or later, we will have no choice but to deliver modern, Western tanks to Ukraine.” He said Russia has largely destroyed Ukraine’s arms industry. At the same time, Ukraine’s old Soviet tanks offered “poor protection” against a Russian attack, Hofreiter added. “I think we need to deliver Leopard tanks as quickly as possible to prevent the needless death of Ukrainian soldiers,” he said. Members of the pro-business Free Democrats and the opposition conservative CDU/CSU alliance also supported the calls. Only Chancellor Olaf Solz’s Social Democratic Party appears to be hesitant. He has repeatedly said there should be no “deutscher Alleingang” (meaning Germany going it alone), which has been the backbone of Germany’s foreign policy since World War II, but is increasingly interpreted, from Kyiv to Washington, as potentially dangerous and weak indecision under the present circumstances. Scholz’s hesitation is seen by some as wariness of further escalating tensions with Moscow and nervousness about an energy crisis being used by groups on the left and right to turn some of the electorate away from supporting Ukraine. On Monday, Scholz insisted that the weapons handed over by Germany – including Gepard anti-aircraft guns, howitzers and Mars rocket launchers – “actually contribute to the fact that it is now possible in the battle on the eastern front to change the outcome once the way we’re seeing right now.” Even as initial reports of the Ukrainian counter-attack surfaced last week, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht ruled out increasing arms supplies to Ukraine, saying Germany’s stockpiles had run out and she needed to maintain supplies to ensure that the country can defend itself. until it can use a €100bn (£87bn) package pledged by Scholz in February to buy more equipment. Amy Gutmann, the US ambassador to Germany, urged the German government on Sunday night to commit to sending more weapons, telling public broadcaster ZDF that while she welcomed and admired the way the Germans had supported Ukraine until moment, “my expectations are even higher.” Berlin has repeatedly pointed to Washington’s reluctance to hand over certain types of weapons – from tanks to fighter jets – to defend its own self-restraint.
