Berlin Germany is supplying Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and a Patriot missile defense system. The United States will also provide the government in Kyiv with light Bradley armored personnel carriers and Patriot systems. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden agreed on this in a telephone call on Thursday evening.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) spoke of a good decision. “Since the beginning of the war, we have increasingly expanded our support in cooperation with our partners. It is logical that we also take this step,” he said.
Ukraine has the right to defend itself against the Russian attack and Germany has the duty to help it. FDP defense expert Marcus Faber called the decision “overdue”. His party had been campaigning for the delivery for months.
A day earlier, an official at the French Presidential Office announced that President Emmanuel Macron had promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to supply Ukraine with AMX-10 RC light tanks. As a result, defense politicians from the traffic light factions increased the pressure on Chancellor Scholz and demanded the delivery of Marders and Leopard battle tanks. Scholz had always ruled out a German going it alone when it came to supplying western-made tanks.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
>> Read here: Overview of the different tank types
The German-American agreement is the result of votes that have been ongoing between the two governments since December 10th. Germany and the USA also want to take care of training Ukrainian soldiers on the respective weapon systems. The industry has dozens of retired Marder armored personnel carriers. A long time ago she had repaired several vehicles and submitted export applications.
Marder could be delivered quickly
According to information from the “Spiegel”, the delivery of 40 copies is planned, the first in the first quarter. If the industry cannot deliver this number in a timely manner, a levy from Bundeswehr stocks is also conceivable, reports the magazine, citing security circles.
The model is being phased out by the Bundeswehr and replaced by the successor Puma.
(Photo: dpa)
As the Handelsblatt learned from circles familiar with the process, the manufacturer Rheinmetall still has more than 60 martens in stock after the ring exchange with Greece. Greece sells Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine and is to receive 40 Marders from Germany in return. It is now possible that some vehicles intended for the ring exchange will now first be diverted to Ukraine.
It is also conceivable that the Bundeswehr will sell martens from its own stock and the industry will fill the gap later. If only the martens stored at Rheinmetall were to be activated, it would take at least six months before they could all be delivered to the Ukraine, the circles said.
As recently as Thursday morning, it looked as if the French would go it alone on the tank issue. The fact that France is pushing ahead is “a disaster for Franco-German relations and for common European foreign and security policy,” said Markus Kaim, security expert at the Science and Politics Foundation, to the Handelsblatt.
“Once again, the other partner countries are going first,” wrote the Chair of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), on Twitter. “Now we can finally get started in the spirit of Franco-German friendship, right?” she asked, addressing the Federal Chancellor directly.
The federal government is threatened with a new debate about what is a battle tank and what is not.
(Photo: Reuters)
In Berlin government circles, on the other hand, it was said that they had been in close contact with France and the USA for weeks about new arms deliveries. In other words, everyone would have planned the new deliveries together, only Macron had rushed ahead with the announcement.
The French tank AMX-10 RC is a light wheeled tank that can be used for scouting but also as a tank destroyer. With its 105 mm gun, it is comparatively heavily armed, but cannot be compared to the Leopard main battle tank.
The Marder and Bradley armored personnel carriers are used to bring infantrymen to the front line and provide them with fire cover. So they are also suitable for offensive operations. The same applies, for example, to battle tanks from Soviet times, which countries like Poland have supplied to Ukraine in large numbers from their stocks.
>> Read also: Fighting, protecting, scouting – which tank type can do what?
After the announcement of the planned French delivery, security expert Kaim said that the federal government must now show its colors as to how it intends to deal with the apparent military standstill in the Ukraine war. If the impression prevails that the current course of the front does not yet permit a peace agreement, then Germany should – in coordination with its partners – also supply additional weapons.
The Ukrainian and French Presidents at a meeting in the summer.
(Photo: dpa)
Kaim pointed out that the war, in which neither side is currently making any major gains, could also be an opportunity to start a diplomatic initiative together with Poland and France, for example, to bring the hostilities to an end. “Here the federal government could show that it is serious about its declared claim to leadership.”
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized on Thursday that negotiations with Ukraine to end the fighting are only possible if Kyiv recognizes the Russian conquests. At the same time, however, the Kremlin chief ordered a one-and-a-half-day ceasefire over the Orthodox Christmas, to which Kyiv reacted with restraint.
>> Read here: The deadlocked battle – Six factors that could make a decision
So far, despite high public pressure, Germany has not been willing to supply armored personnel carriers or battle tanks or to grant export permits. The armaments group Rheinmetall had already declared in September that it had repaired 16 decommissioned Marder armored personnel carriers at its own expense, which could be delivered to Ukraine immediately.
Germany also supplies a Patriot system
There were also considerations that countries using the Leopard main battle tank could join forces and cede some examples to Ukraine. Since it is a German product, Germany would have to issue the export license here as well. So far, however, this is not evident.
Chancellor Scholz and US President Biden also agreed to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. This is to be done with Patriot systems. In October, Germany offered Poland the opportunity to station Patriots in the neighboring country after a missile hit the country. Investigators believe it was a stray anti-aircraft missile.
Poland then suggested handing the Patriot over to Ukraine, where they could do better service. At the time, the proposal caused considerable upset in German-Polish relations. Now Germany wants to deliver a Patriot anti-aircraft battery, after the United States made a corresponding announcement at the end of December. Russia has been firing rockets, cruise missiles and so-called kamikaze drones at civilian targets and the infrastructure in Ukraine for weeks.
The Marder and the Patriot battery have not yet appeared in the list in which the federal government regularly provides information on completed and forthcoming arms deliveries to Ukraine. However, it is currently planned to supply Ukraine with 114 reconnaissance drones from industry stocks. Recently, among other things, 20 rocket launchers with a caliber of 70 millimeters on pick-up trucks including ammunition were also newly delivered, which are also provided by industry and financed from federal funds.
In total, the federal government issued licenses for the delivery of armaments worth 2.4 billion euros to Ukraine by January 2nd.
More: Multiple rocket launchers, tanks, howitzers – in 2022 Berlin approved arms exports for more than eight billion euros