Germany’s chancellor avoided committing to the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at the Davos summit on Wednesday, although he left the door open to a positive decision at a special summit of Western defense ministers on Friday.
Olaf Scholz did not mention the Leopard tanks at all when a Ukrainian delegate asked him “why he hesitated” to sign off on their re-export – prompting an apparently frustrated Ukrainian president to warn the same forum of delay.
The German leader said his country was “strategically linked” to the US, France and other “friends and partners” and that any decisions on weapons should be part of a collective effort to help Ukraine win the war.
“We work together with them, we discuss with them,” Scholz said, referring to Germany’s allies. “We never do anything alone, but together with others, especially the US, which is very important in this common task of protecting Ukrainian independence and sovereignty.
A few minutes later, Ukraine’s president delivered a speech via video link to the same forum, urging urgent action instead. Volodymyr Zelensky said the world “should not hesitate” to help his country fight the invaders, adding: “The time the free world uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill.”
About 50 Western defense ministers from the contact group on Ukraine will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday for a meeting chaired by US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin to discuss and coordinate future military aid to Kyiv.
Earlier this month, the US and Germany jointly announced that they would send Bradley and Marder combat vehicles to Ukraine, and some sources said they believed something similar could happen later this week.
Poland and Finland have said they want to send Ukraine Leopard 2 tanks, of which there are about 2,300 stored in various stages of repair by NATO countries. But permission is needed from Germany, where the Leopard was originally manufactured, to re-export them.
Ukraine has said it wants up to 300 Western tanks to help it win the war, while experts believe it needs at least 100 to mount a credible spring offensive. The tanks are needed to make up for the losses, and the Leopard 2s have superior capabilities, such as thermal optics, over Soviet-era tanks that include Ukraine’s heaviest armor.
“Tragedies overtake life”: Zelensky calls on the world to speed up the response to Russian aggression – video
Poland has said it wants to send a squadron of 14, the same number of tanks Britain has promised to supply. On Monday, the UK said it would deliver 14 of its Challenger 2s, announcing the pledge ahead of Friday’s meeting in a bid to get Germany to follow suit.
Scholz came under further pressure on Wednesday from across the EU. Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, accused Russia of pursuing “a strategy of destruction, a strategy of terror, trying to bomb the Ukrainian people into submission.”
Michel, a former Belgian prime minister, argued that the time was right to give Western tanks, brushing aside any concern that it could be interpreted as escalation. “Now is the time. They urgently need more equipment and I personally support the delivery of tanks to Ukraine.
MEPs also directly called on Scholz to deliver Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine without further delay as they voted to adopt a report on the Common Security and Defense Policy by 459 votes to 93 with 85 abstentions “.
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Vladimir Putin said he believed Russia’s victory in the war was inevitable during a visit to factory workers in St Petersburg.
The Russian president praised “the courage and heroism of our fighters … and of course the work of the military-industrial complex and factories like yours and people like you.” He suggested that defense workers may be immune to future military recruitment.
On Thursday, the British and Polish defense ministers will meet their Baltic counterparts in Estonia for a preliminary meeting in Ramstein designed to put further pressure on Germany to press ahead with the Leopard 2s.
But there were signs that London’s maneuvers were irritating Berlin. A German government source told Reuters that the UK appeared to be ignoring Berlin’s recent decision to provide the Patriot missile defense system and 40 Marder combat vehicles.
Accusing the UK of acting in response to “domestic political pressure”, government sources added that leaning on allies was “not helpful”. They added: “Delivery of tanks to Ukraine is not taboo. But such questions will continue to be clarified in a transatlantic line.”
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