The anti-aircraft tank is armed with two cannons.
(Photo: IMAGO/Sven Eckelkamp)
Berlin Two things are very clear: With bazookas and anti-aircraft missiles alone, the Ukrainian army may be able to hold off the Russian aggressor for a while longer. But these weapons will not be enough if Ukraine is to have any chance of winning the war.
Anyone who wants that – and Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his traffic light coalition want it – must deliver heavy weapons: tanks, artillery pieces, air defenses.
So far, the federal government has been very reserved here and justified this with German history, the blank Bundeswehr, the concern about the Third World War or the reference. Other NATO allies would not supply tanks either.
After all, she has finally managed to authorize the industry to export decades-old “Gepard” tanks. And the traffic light factions call on the federal government in their joint application to continue the delivery of heavy weapons and complex systems and, if possible, to accelerate them.
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The hesitant Germans now at the forefront when it comes to arms deliveries? No, a real paradigm shift is not yet in sight. The “Gepard”, which was long since decommissioned by the Bundeswehr, is an anti-aircraft tank which, from the point of view of the reserved SPD faction, would probably still pass as a defensive weapon.
The situation is different with Leopard-type main battle tanks, which Rheinmetall and others would like to supply. It could use the Ukrainian army to recapture its own territory or even attack Russia.
In the course of the ring exchange, the traffic light wants to make such systems available to other NATO partners, who in turn supply Soviet-design tanks to Ukraine – even if the SPD, Greens and FDP also keep at least a back door open for the direct route in their application .
The window of time in which the West can still significantly influence the decision on whether Ukraine will win or lose – and thus also on its own security – is getting smaller and smaller. And the reservoir of old Soviet material is limited.
Therefore, there is no way around the delivery of Western modern weapons and rapid training of the Ukrainian soldiers. There are arguments against this that are worth considering, such as the concern that the war will spread to NATO countries. But anyone who is convinced that the freedom of the West is also being defended in Ukraine should not give war criminal Putin an easy victory.
More on this: The tank swap – how the federal government now wants to solve the weapons fiasco