Germany helps Ukraine, but cautiously.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that is not supplying Kiev with battle tanks because it is a “very dangerous war”.
“We support Ukraine,” Scholz said in an interview with The New York Times last week. “We are doing it in such a way as not to bring the situation to a state of war between Russia and NATO, because that would be a disaster.”
According to him, Germany supplied the Ukrainians with a huge amount of very effective weapons.
During the seven months of the war, Berlin promised Ukraine military aid in the amount of more than 700 million euros or about 678 million dollars, including a modern air defense system. She also sent multiple rocket launchers, modern artillery and dozens of anti-aircraft guns.
But Scholz refused to provide Ukraine with Leopard combat tanks or Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which Ukrainian officials have repeatedly requested. As they transition from a defensive to an offensive position in the south, Ukrainian forces need tanks to break through defensive lines and retake new territories before winter sets in and, as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, “liberate the people and save them from genocide.”
Scholz's refusal, which goes against the will of many even members of his own ruling coalition, has drawn vociferous and almost unanimous criticism from Germany's Eastern European neighbors, not least in Ukraine. Commanders at the front say that the Germans' reluctance to provide battle tanks indicates a policy of seeking a negotiated settlement on existing lines, not Ukraine's success in pushing out the Russians.
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“No rational argument why these weapons cannot be deployed, only abstract fears and excuses,” Kuleba said recently on Twitter. What is Berlin afraid of, what is Kyiv not afraid of?
Mr. Scholz got angry at this question in an interview with The Times.
“Leadership does not mean that you do what you are asked, – he said. “Leadership is about making the right decisions and being very strong. And this is what I do.”
“We cooperate and do it together with our allies, and we never do anything alone,” Scholz added. “And this is how we respond to a very dangerous war.” strong>increased the pressure on Scholz, whose government at different times gave different reasons for refusing to send tanks.
And the way Germany helped Ukraine militarily became something like a litmus test of ability Olaf Scholz to lead Europe through the most serious security crisis since World War II.
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