In January, after much hesitation and pressure from other countries, Scholz promised Ukraine, which had been attacked by Russia, to supply war tanks and armored vehicles. In March, the German Bundeswehr will deliver 14 modern A6 Leopard 2 main battle tanks to the Ukrainian army. 40 Marder armored personnel carriers also come from industrial stocks.
However, Scholz also stated that it was an objective “quickly” to assemble two battalions with other allies, as the “SZ” writes. According to the newspaper, there would be a total of 62 Leopard 2 tanks. So far, only Portugal has promised three Leopard 2A6s for the battalion, for which Germany has taken the lead.
IMAGO/Panama Pictures/Christoph Hardt A Leopard 2 A6 main battle tank
SPD Expert: Dissatisfied with the debate
The German government is angry that other states have promised deliveries and are not delivering, according to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Sunday. On Monday, SPD foreign policy expert Michael Roth did the same and expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of commitments by Germany’s partner countries to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine.
Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine
A trip to Poland by US President Joe Biden was originally planned. On Monday, Biden came — unannounced for security reasons — to the Ukrainian capital Kiev for several hours for the first time since the war began nearly a year ago.
“I’m not happy with the debate,” the chairman of the German Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee said on Monday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. It should be noted that “some are still struggling”, although there were “clear announcements weeks ago”.
AP/Michael Probst German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday at the Munich Security Conference
Since September at the latest, there has been talk of a European alliance to supply Ukraine with Leopard tanks, Roth added. He considers the discrepancy between the announcements and willingness to participate “not helpful”. The German government must “discuss this behind the scenes” so that as many states as possible continue to support Ukraine.
Pistorius also increases the pressure
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) has recently increased pressure on German partner countries on the issue of handover. On Monday, the minister visited Ukrainian soldiers who are being trained on the Leopard 2 and Marder at the German military training area in Munster, Lower Saxony.
APA/AFP/Attila Kisbenedek A Leopard 2 A4 main battle tank during a demonstration
It’s bad to talk to someone in Germany because of tank deliveries to neighboring Denmark, for example. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen discussed “SZ” with her country’s critical public opinion. Sweden and Finland are also showing no signs of larger deliveries. The target was 31 pieces of the more modern type 2A6 – there are still 14 pieces to go, according to the “SZ” calculation.
Lack of spare parts and ammunition
Apparently there are also problems with the announced second battalion. Poland is supplying 14 of the older model, the Leopard 2 type A4, Norway eight, Spain five and other countries may follow, “SZ” said. However, this older Leopard 2 type lacks spare parts and ammunition.
Poland had already demanded that Germany guarantee maintenance and supplies. But the problem is that the Bundeswehr has not used the tank for about two decades. As a solution, Pistorius organized a discussion with the German armaments industry and specifically with Rheinmetall.
Portal/Yves Herman Dozens of Leopard 1 main battle tanks, here in a photo from Belgium
This could now produce the necessary parts in Poland, for example, according to the “SZ”. Industry is also expected to repair Leopard 1 main battle tanks, the newspaper said. More than 100 of these will then be delivered to Ukraine, the Rheinmetall arms group alone has 88 pieces in stock, according to “SZ”.
Workshop center to be built in Poland
As part of the military aid to Ukraine, the Polish government is preparing a workshop center (“hub”) for the repair of the main Leopard main battle tanks. He also spoke to German Chancellor Scholz about this, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who attended the Munich Security Conference, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
“In Poland, we have built several ammunition production facilities of different calibers for our own supply, but also for Ukraine,” he continued. The day before there were also negotiations with the German arms industry.
AP/Ben Stansall Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Munich Security Conference
Morawiecki told the PAP news agency that it was about repairing and modernizing the Leopard tanks, which will soon be delivered to Ukraine. Not just the Leopard tanks “that we have in our stock, but also the ones that come back from Ukraine, we want to be able to repair them, modernize them,” says Morawiecki. There have been and are conversations with Rheinmetall about this as well. It is not clear when the center will be ready to start.
Slovakia and the customs problem
According to “SZ”, the German Bundeswehr had bad experiences with another maintenance center in Slovakia. At the maintenance center in Michalovce, close to the Ukrainian border, rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers, which are in dire need of maintenance, have been sitting idle since January because of a customs dispute.
Slovakia interprets European customs regulations in such a way that imports from non-EU country Ukraine, repairs in EU country Slovakia, and return to Ukraine require customs fees as repair and new parts are processed, says the paper by way of explanation.
According to SZ, the first solution was to send several rocket launchers on a detour of more than 2,500 kilometers via Poland to Germany. There they would be repaired and transported back to Ukraine. But there must also be another solution without higher customs payments, he said without further details.
It’s also getting tight with ammo.
Another general problem is the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, where solutions are also being worked out, for example, by the EU. There is pressure for a joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine. Estonia’s department head, Urmas Reinsalu, called on partners in Brussels to join his country’s procurement initiative. In the war against Ukraine, Russia is firing as much ammunition daily as Europe produces in a month, he stressed. This was “completely unacceptable”.