Andriy Melnyk at ntv
Without ammunition, Ukraine would have to do without Cheetah tanks
04/27/2022, 09:30 am
Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk welcomes the promised delivery of “Gepard” tanks, but worries about the lack of ammunition, he tells ntv. Defense Minister Lambrecht wants to help with the procurement.
Shortly after the Russian invasion, Ukraine asked Germany to supply “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, but was turned down at the time. The Ukrainian side was completely surprised by the current “cheetah” offer, said the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, to ntv. The offer came “like a bolt from the blue”.
“Because we requested these weapon systems in Berlin in the first days of the war because the Ukrainian army would make good use of them,” Melnyk continued. “We were told that it doesn’t make any sense because we don’t have the necessary ammunition. Nothing has changed to this day. That’s why the ‘cheetah’ issue wasn’t on the agenda of the bilateral talks in recent weeks.”
Melnyk pointed out that the anti-aircraft tanks are useless without ammunition. “If the ammunition is not procured by the German Ministry of Defense in the next few days, Ukraine would probably have to forego this offer from Germany.”
Lambrecht wants to organize ammunition
As the “Bild” newspaper reports from government circles, the “Gepard” manufacturer KMW currently only has around 23,000 rounds of ammunition in stock for the tank’s main weapon system. The two heavy main guns of the tank therefore need about 1100 rounds per minute. According to the newspaper, the Federal Ministry of Defense and KMW are now looking for hundreds of thousands more rounds of ammunition for the “cheetah”. The current operators of the “Gepard”, Jordan, Brazil and Qatar, would be asked in particular.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on ZDF on Wednesday evening that the federal government would “of course continue to support Ukraine to ensure that sufficient ammunition can be organized”. The training on the “cheetah” will run through the manufacturer.