The German government has confirmed it will provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks and approve requests by other countries to do the same.
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday his country is “acting in close coordination” with its allies, Associated Press reported.
In a statement, the government said it will initially provide Ukraine with one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks, which comprises 14 vehicles, from its own stocks adding that the goal is to provide Ukraine with a total of two battalions – 88 tanks – together with other countries.
The long-awaited decision comes after US officials said a preliminary agreement had been struck for the United States to send M1 Abrams tanks to help Kyiv push back Russian forces entrenched in the east almost a year since the start of the war.
Scholz had insisted that any move to provide Ukraine with powerful Leopard 2s would need to be closely coordinated with Germany’s allies, chiefly the United States. By getting Washington to commit some of its own tanks, Berlin hopes to spread the risk of any backlash from Russia, AP reported.
Ekkehard Brose, head of the German military’s Federal Academy for Security Policy, said tying the United States into the decision was crucial to avoid Europe facing a nuclear-armed Russia alone.
But he also noted the deeper historic significance of the decision.
“German-made tanks will face off against Russian tanks in Ukraine once more,” he said, adding that this was “not an easy thought” for Germany, which takes its responsibility for the horrors of the Second World War seriously.
“And yet it is the right decision,” Brose said, arguing that it is up to Western democracies to help Ukraine stop Russia’s military campaign.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile described German and US intentions with the tanks as “a rather disastrous plan”.
“I am convinced that many specialists understand the absurdity of this idea,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Simply because of technological aspects, this is a rather disastrous plan. The main thing is, this is a completely obvious overestimation of the potential (the supply of tanks) would add to the armed forces of Ukraine. It is yet another fallacy, a rather profound one,” the Kremlin official said.
Peskov predicted “these tanks will burn down just like all the other ones… Except they cost a lot, and this will fall on the shoulders of European taxpayers,” he added.
The pressure on Scholz mounted this week after Poland formally asked Germany to approve sending Leopard 2 tanks from Polish stocks to Ukraine.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Germany of “delaying, being evasive and acting in a way that is difficult to understand” when it came to supplying tanks and went so far as to claim Berlin appeared not to want to help Ukraine. Other European nations have also indicated a willingness to part with their own battle tanks as part of a larger coalition.
Germany news weekly Der Spiegel said Berlin could initially approve the supply of one tank company, comprising 14 vehicles.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made it clear late on Tuesday that he hopes to receive a more substantial number of tanks from western allies. “It is not about five or 10 or 15 tanks. The need is greater,” he said.
