Germany will approve the delivery of Cheetah armored vehicles to Ukraine, the defense minister announced on Tuesday, marking a major turning point in Berlin’s previous cautious policy of military support to Ukraine.
“We have decided that Germany will supply Guepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine,” Minister Christine Lambrecht said at the opening of a meeting with her Western counterparts at the American military base in Ramstein, in the United States west of Germany.
An unknown amount
The number of tanks specializing in anti-aircraft defense was not specified. These vehicles will come from the stocks of the German armaments industry and not from the limited reserves of the Bundeswehr. Some 40 countries are meeting at the Ramstein base on Tuesday at the invitation of the US to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses, which US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says can “win” against Russia if given the means to do so.
France has already announced that it will send Caesar guns with a range of 40 kilometers, and Britain has donated Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and armored vehicles.
parliamentary pressure
For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is being heavily implicated by his neighbors in central Europe and the Baltics over his refusal to supply heavy weapons claimed by Ukraine. These critics see in part the continuity of a pro-Russian tropism from his social democratic party, the SPD.
In Germany itself, the political debate has been lively in recent weeks, including within the governing coalition, where Greens and Liberals consider Kiev’s support insufficient and call on the head of government to authorize the delivery of offensive material, particularly armored vehicles.
The parliamentary groups of the three governing parties agreed on Tuesday to ask Olaf Scholz’s government to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine, according to a draft motion by the Bundestag.
Speed up delivery
The parliamentary groups of the SPD, Greens and FDP will call on the government this week to “continue and, if possible, accelerate the delivery of the necessary equipment to Ukraine and also extend the delivery to heavy weapons and complex systems, for example as part of the circular exchange”. with the participation of other European countries, according to this draft application.
The training also envisages training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany and other NATO countries in how to use the systems supplied. “We initially supplied Ukraine with large quantities of weapons from Bundeswehr stocks, including anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles,” said Christine Lambrecht of the Ramstein base.
A symbolic command
The principle now, explained Christine Lambrecht, is that the Ukraine “orders” from industrial groups and “Germany pays”. The funds earmarked for the improvement of Ukrainian military capabilities will thus increase to EUR 2 billion, the minister confirmed.
Germany also announced last week that it would be supplying tanks to Slovenia, allowing the former Yugoslav country to bring its own Soviet tanks to Ukraine. This kind of circular exchange could be discussed with other Eastern European countries.
Chancellor Scholz has so far justified his cautious policy on heavy weapons with concerns about avoiding a direct confrontation between NATO and the nuclear power Russia. “Germany has been criticized. But the numbers say otherwise,” Lambrecht argued on Tuesday morning, recalling in particular the massive investments in defense in Germany announced at the end of February.