updates
Call from Scholz to Biden
Berlin and Washington deliver tanks to Kyiv
01/05/2023 8:23 p.m
The Chancellor hesitated for a long time, but now he is tipping his no to the delivery of heavy weapons to Kyiv. A day after an identical announcement by the French President, US President Biden and Scholz promised Ukraine the “Marder” and “Bradley” infantry fighting vehicles.
Germany and the USA want to supply Ukraine with armored personnel carriers for the fight against the Russian attackers for the first time. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden agreed that in a telephone call in the evening, as it was then said in a joint statement. Germany will also provide Ukraine with a Patriot anti-aircraft battery for air defense. The US had already promised Kyiv one of the modern Patriot systems. Germany wants to supply the Ukrainian armed forces with the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which was developed more than 50 years ago for the Bundeswehr. The USA send “Bradley” tanks.
These are the first Western-style armored personnel carriers to be received in Ukraine. It was initially unclear how many of the tanks should reach Ukraine by when. The “Spiegel” reported that 40 “Marder” should be delivered. One wants to fully equip one Ukrainian Panzergrenadier unit, it said with reference to government circles. The first “Marder” from Germany should therefore already be delivered in the first quarter of 2023.
The German government also wants to organize further “cheetah” anti-aircraft systems for Ukraine, the newspaper continued. Accordingly, talks are already underway with two states that still have “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks and the associated 35-millimeter ammunition. No deal has been reached yet, but there is cautious confidence that more “cheetahs” can be delivered to Ukraine in the coming months, officials in Berlin said. The “Gepard”, of which Germany delivered 30 systems to the Ukraine last year, has proven itself to be very efficient on the front in the Ukraine. The system is said to be particularly effective in combating drones fired by Russia.
Change of course after Macron’s announcement
So far, only Soviet models have been delivered to the war zone by Eastern European countries. However, Ukraine has already received anti-aircraft, armored transport and armored recovery vehicles from Western manufacturers. Ukraine had been asking its western allies, and especially Germany, for months for battle tanks and armored personnel carriers. Scholz had repeatedly emphasized that Germany would not act alone on this issue and pointed out that no other NATO country had ever sent such tanks to Ukraine.
The change of course was already indicated on Wednesday, when French President Emmanuel Macron promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj heavily armed reconnaissance tanks. At the same time, Biden held out the prospect of infantry fighting vehicles.
The Düsseldorf armaments company Rheinmetall had already offered 100 of the armored personnel carriers for the Ukraine in the summer. In the meantime, 40 of them are destined for Greece, which is supplying Soviet-designed armored personnel carriers to the Ukraine. A maximum of 60 more martens could be handed over to Ukraine. The work on repairing and overhauling the weapon systems has been going on for several months and some have already been completed.