Germany makes a turn in its policy towards Ukraine. She decides to send heavy weapons.
During the meeting of the defense ministers of NATO countries at the US base in Ramstein, in the Rhineland-Palatinate, the German Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, said that now we have decided to respond to this request of Ukraine. “Our assistance is coordinated with other NATO partners,” the minister said, referring to the deployment of anti-aircraft tanks. Prior to the meeting she had said that the federal government decided on Monday to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft tanks. Arms maker Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) will be given the green light to sell technically refurbished anti-aircraft tanks from previous Bundeswehr stocks. The Federal Security Council, chaired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, formally decides to approve export applications from the arms industry.
Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has a double-digit number of these tanks from the air defense of the disbanded Bundeswehr army. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, there are 50 Gepard tanks. With its two 35 mm machine guns, this tank can fight air targets such as airplanes, helicopters, drones or missiles up to six miles away. Can also be used in combat against ground targets.
Christine Lambrecht
The procedure of exchange supplies will be strengthened
Lambrecht also announced that Germany will expand the supply of heavy weapons in exchange with partners in Eastern Europe, so that Ukraine can quickly acquire heavy weapons that do not require long training. “They are giving Ukraine Soviet equipment and we are filling those gaps. There is still more that can be done here and we are ready to do it.” Germany also wants to be more involved in training Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil.
At the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, two months ago, the German government had decided to supply Ukraine only with defensive weapons. The surrender of heavy weapons like tanks has so far been refused. But in recent weeks, voices from the ruling coalition (SPD, Greens and FDP) have been added to send heavy weapons to Ukraine.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
International Crisis Meeting in Ramstein
At the largest US air base outside the United States, defense ministers and chiefs of staff from 40 allied countries gathered to consult on further military strengthening of Ukraine and its reconstruction even after the war of Russian aggression. Austin said Russia’s actions in Ukraine were unforgivable. The world stands united against the government in Moscow./DW
