During the last 9 weeks of the war in Ukraine, Germany has failed to meet Kyivʼs demands for weapons, neither light nor heavy. Ukraineʼs military support is kept to a minimum.
This was reported by the German newspaper Welt.
So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to supply Kyiv with German battle tanks and armored personnel carriers, citing agreements with NATO allies. But, as can be seen from the documents available in the editorial office, since the end of March, Germany has also almost not supplied small arms.
Thus, according to Ukraine, the last supply of anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons took place on March 25, more than two months ago: 2,000 Panzerfaust 3 missiles and 1,500 Strela anti-aircraft missiles. However, the need for these munitions is still there. In addition to the Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-tank weapons, the Ukrainian army also needs Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Ukraine confirmed the latter in a letter to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht dated April 9 and May 1. Germany has not yet complied with these requests, although Chancellor Scholz has publicly promised further supplies.
Between March 30 and May 26, Ukraine received only two consignments of weapons from the federal government. According to the list, in mid-May, Germany sent 3,000 anti-tank mines and another 1,600 specialized targeted anti-tank mines. In April, Germany sent only spare parts for machine guns, radios, explosives, mines, grenades, as well as fuses and cords to them.
Ukraine has also submitted an export application to Germany for the sale of 100 Marder tanks and 88 Leopard 1 tanks, but these applications have been in the Federal Security Council for five weeks and there is no movement there, according to Welt from the Ukrainian government circles.
Regarding heavy weapons, Scholz said: "Always keep up with NATO partners", and since no NATO country supplies Western-style tanks, this has led to the refusal to supply German battle tanks and armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
At the request of Welt, a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense said: "Information on specific arms supplies is security-related and classified, so I ask for your understanding that I can neither provide more detailed information nor confirm details."
In late April, the German government announced the supply of 30 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. However, at that time it was unclear where the ammunition was to come from. Four weeks later, the federal government was able to provide 59,000 rounds of ammunition. However, the first 15 "Gepards" will not be delivered by the end of July, as announced by Defense Minister Lambrecht, because the tanks "had to be prepared." The real reason for the delay in delivery is the training of the Ukrainian military, which should be completed in late July. Training of the first 45 soldiers begins no earlier than June 13 and ends on July 22. For the second group of soldiers, it will begin on July 18 and end on August 26, so the remaining 15 "Gepards" will not be delivered until the end of August.
- On May 15, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that Germany would soon hand over Ukraineʼs first consignment of heavy weapons. These are 155-mm self-propelled artillery units.
- On May 6, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed that her country would hand over seven Panzerhaubitzen 2000 self-propelled artillery units to Ukraine.