The German chancellor refused to grant export licenses unless the US sent M1-Abrams battle tanks, which Washington refused to do because they were too expensive and difficult to maintain compared to Leopards.
Mr Scholz, who warned of the risk of provoking a wider war with Russia, appeared to drop his request to Ramstein, raising ultimately dashed hopes that the standoff could be ended at a summit at a US air base.
Ms. Strack-Zimmerman, who predicted the Leopards would eventually be sent, called Mr. Scholz’s communication on the matter a “disaster.”
Although Germany has sent significant military support to Ukraine, the indecision surrounding the Leopards has given the impression that Berlin is withholding it.
Boris Pistorius, Germany’s new defense minister, said Berlin would take stock of its Leopard tanks after the 50-nation meeting in Ramstein, but said he did not know when a decision would be made or what it would be.
Roderich Kieseweter, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Christian Democratic Party, said it was “embarrassing and frightening” that the inventory of the tanks had just been ordered almost a year after the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“Germany has done Ukraine and its own future position a disservice,” he said.
Johann Wadeful, a CDU member of the Bundestag, said: “We are witnessing the complete failure of Germany on the international stage.”
“Either stubbornness or cowardice, [Scholz] leaves Ukraine hanging,” he added.
The top-selling newspaper Bild was scathing about not sending the tanks. Germany made a fool of this table, read the headline of the influential tabloid over a photo of the discussions.
It mocked the decision to check stock levels in the German army, “as if we don’t know what’s in the garage”.
Die Welt called Mr Pistorius a “naked squad leader” as it reported that four of the six German battalions had fewer than ten battle tanks ready for action when they should have 264 Leopard 2s.
Former NATO general Hans-Lothar Domrose told Bild that “the time that Ukraine does not have” is being wasted.
It will take two months for the tanks to be ready for frontline use once a decision is made to export, he warned. He said: “The Russians are bombing and we are discussing.”
Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, said Kyiv’s troops would begin training Leopard tanks in Poland. “We’ll start with that and move on from there,” he said.
On Friday, Mr Pistorius said Germany would not interfere with “preparatory training” for the Leopards, suggesting Berlin could still cave in and agree to send the tanks.
“Every day we make it clear that there is no alternative to the tank solution,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly speech after the Ramstein summit, which ended without a breakthrough.
“Either way, you will help Ukraine with the necessary weapons and you will realize that there is no other option to end the war than the defeat of Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, said on Saturday.
“But today’s indecision is killing more than our people. Every day delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster.”
Germany had been under sustained pressure from allies including Britain, the US and other NATO allies such as Poland and Finland before the Ramstein summit.
The UK has pledged 14 Challenger tanks to Kyiv in a bid to coerce Mr Scholz, while Warsaw has warned it could send a company of 14 Leopards without Germany’s permission.
“Ukraine will get all the help it needs,” US President Joe Biden said when asked if he supported Poland’s intention to provide Ukraine with Leopard main battle tanks.
On Saturday morning, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia issued a joint statement calling on Berlin to “provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now.”
“This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe. Germany as a leading European power has a special responsibility in this regard,” they said.
In Russia, there was more than a hint of gloating over the failure to end the standoff.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine and Western Europe were the “direct heirs” of Napoleon and Hitler.
“Therefore, the war with them is a new Patriotic War. And victory will be ours. As it was in 1812 and 1945,” he said.
In the popular pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, a former UN director-general and a senior Russian diplomat, said Germany’s war guilt over crimes committed by the Nazis stopped it approving the deployment of Leopard tanks.
Military analyst Andrey Frolov argued that the decision not to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine suggests that European stockpiles are far lower than previously thought.
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