“There is no unanimous opinion. There are good reasons for the supply and good reasons against it,” Pistorius said of the possibility of providing Ukraine with German Leopard tanks.
According to him, the political decision on the delivery will be made “as soon as possible”. “I don’t know if it will be in a week, in two, or tomorrow,” he said.
But he emphasized that if the decision is positive, he wants to be ready to act immediately. “We are preparing for the worst case scenario,” Pistorius said.
Germany is under pressure from the Leopard coalition to allow tank deliveries to Ukraine
Europe
He emphasized that there was “no consensus” among the Allies on the supply of main battle tanks. “The impression that is sometimes given that there is a closed coalition and Germany is standing in the way is wrong,” he said.
Ukraine officially asked the federal government for the supply of tanks last year on March 3, a few days after the Russian invasion. Recently, the pressure to provide leopards to Ukrainians has increased significantly. Not only the opposition conservative CDU/CSU, but also the governing Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) are demanding this from the federal government.
Some countries, led by Poland, are also putting pressure on Berlin. Poland and Finland have already publicly announced that they are willing to hand over some of their leopards to Ukraine, but this requires German approval.
According to Pistorius, no decision has been made even on the granting of German consent so that third countries can give German tanks to Ukraine. Poland has already indicated that it is ready for a non-standard procedure.
The German defense minister also said that Friday was not about the delivery of American Abrams tanks. According to the US, these are unsuitable for Ukraine, as they have a turbine engine that is difficult to maintain. The disadvantage is also the high fuel consumption of these machines.
In recent days, the German media reported that Scholz made the supply of leopards conditional on the US handing over Abrams tanks to Ukraine. However, Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit denied this at a press conference in Berlin on Friday. “It is difficult to imagine the German chancellor dictating terms and making demands to the American president,” he said. He added that Germany wants to proceed in strict agreement with its allies, especially the USA.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia are probably willing to give up Leopard tanks in favor of Ukraine, writes FAZ
The war in Ukraine
