German Chancellor Olaf Scholz makes a statement after talks with European leaders and US President Joe Biden April 19, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/Pool
BERLIN, April 19 – Germany will continue to provide military support to Ukraine even though it has practically exhausted the weapons it can supply from its own stockpiles and is instead working with its defense industry and other nations to send more, it said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.
Scholz is facing mounting frustration both at home and abroad in what critics call a lack of leadership in Ukraine. Even members of the junior partners in his three-way coalition are now openly accusing him of hesitating with Ukrainian requests to send her more heavy weapons.
After attending a call with Western allies, including US President Joe Biden, Scholz said they would coordinate further arms shipments to Ukraine to ensure it could repel the Russian invasion.
Asked if Germany would send Leopard tanks, he said Western allies – not just Berlin – agreed it made sense to send Ukraine weapons that it could use immediately. As such, the allies would allow Eastern European countries to hand over Soviet weapons known to them by pledging to replace them, he said.
In addition, Berlin was the liaison between German armaments manufacturers and Ukraine to supply the country with weapons such as anti-tank and air defense weapons.
“We will provide the necessary money for the purchase,” said Scholz.
Scholz has to balance the pressure from the Greens and Free Democrats to increase arms sales to Ukraine with a certain reluctance from some sections of his Social Democrats (SPD), who long advocated a rapprochement between the West and Russia before the war in Ukraine.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chairwoman of the Bundestag’s Defense Committee and member of the FDP, criticized Scholz for not providing any specific details.
“We’re still lagging behind” in arms shipments, she wrote on Twitter.
In a Forsa survey by broadcasters RTL and NTV published on Tuesday, 52 percent were dissatisfied with Scholz’s work, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economics Minister Robert Habeck, both Greens, only 31 percent and 34 percent.
Support for the SPD fell 2 percentage points last week to 25%, level with the Conservatives and up a percentage point.
Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Catherine Evans, William Maclean