German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Tallinn, Estonia April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
TALLINN, April 21 – Germany is assessing what additional maintenance and ammunition its inventory of aging Marder infantry fighting vehicles will need for Ukraine to deploy, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said.
On the second day of a tour of the Baltics, Baerbock addressed criticism from allies and commentators of Germany’s apparent hesitation in supplying the weapons Kyiv says it needs to stave off Russian attacks. L5N2WJ3HG
“There are no taboos for us regarding armored vehicles and other weapons that Ukraine needs,” she said at a press conference with her Estonian counterpart on Thursday.
The Bild newspaper had previously accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of blocking tank deliveries.
Many analysts say Ukraine badly needs heavy weapons to repel a Russian invasion now focused on gaining a foothold in the eastern Donbass region.
While Ukraine’s light weapons and tactics have had some success in slowing Russia’s advance, heavy battlefield weapons like tanks and howitzers are needed to stop and reverse that incursion, they say.
Russia calls its invasion a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its western allies dismiss this as a false pretext for an illegal war of aggression. Continue reading
But Baerbock said the priority is to ensure Ukraine quickly obtains older Soviet-designed equipment that its military can use without additional training, and that this is done by using the stocks of allied countries that have such weapons left over have to be replenished with modern German equipment.
German forces themselves face equipment shortages, she added, noting that German peacekeeping missions in Africa did not have all the necessary helicopters.
Asked by journalists if Germany’s Leopard tank would be sent to Ukraine, she said troops needed training to use such advanced equipment and that Berlin would pay for that training.
“We are providing one billion euros because we should not only think about the systems that Ukraine needs for defense now for the coming days and months, but also for the next few years, but also about a free Ukraine in the future,” she said.
“We know that every day counts.”
Reporting by Alexander Ratz, writing by Thomas Escritt, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Angus MacSwan