BERLIN (dpa) – After weeks of hesitation and growing impatience among Germany’s allies, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to announce on Wednesday that his government would agree to the delivery of German-made main battle tanks to Ukraine.
The long-awaited decision came almost a year after US officials said a tentative agreement had been reached under which the United States would send M1 Abrams tanks to help Kyiv push back Russian forces holed up in the east beginning of war.
Scholz had insisted that any move to equip Ukraine with powerful Leopard 2 tanks had to be closely coordinated with Germany’s allies, most notably the United States. By getting Washington to use some of its own tanks, Berlin hopes to reduce the risk of a Russian backlash.
Members of Scholz’s three-party coalition government welcomed the news ahead of the official announcement, which is expected in a speech to parliament early this afternoon.
“The leopard is liberated!” said German MEP Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a senior Green Party MEP.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the FDP and chair of the parliamentary defense committee, said the news was “a relief for a battered and brave Ukraine”.
“The decision to approve (requests from other countries) and deliver the Leopard 2 was arduous but inevitable,” she said.
Strack-Zimmermann had been one of the loudest voices calling for a speedy decision on arms deliveries to the Ukraine.
However, two smaller opposition parties criticized the move.
The far-right Alternative for Germany called the decision “irresponsible and dangerous”.
“Germany risks being drawn directly into the war,” said their co-leader Tino Chrupalla. The party, known by its acronym AfD, maintains friendly relations with Russia.
The Left Party, which also has historical ties to Moscow, warned of a possible escalation of the conflict.
“The delivery of Leopard main battle tanks, which ends another taboo, may bring us closer to a third world war than to peace in Europe,” said the party’s parliamentary group leader, Dietmar Bartsch, the German Press Agency.
Recent opinion polls show that German voters are divided on this idea.
Pressure on Scholz mounted this week after Poland formally asked Germany to allow Polish-held Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine. Other European nations have also signaled their willingness to part with their own main battle tanks as part of a larger coalition.
The German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Berlin could initially authorize the delivery of a tank company with 14 vehicles.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made it clear late Tuesday that he hopes to receive a larger number of tanks from western allies.
“It’s not about five or ten or 15 tanks. The need is greater,” he said.
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