The federal government recently approved the delivery of 50 tanks of this type to the Ukrainian army.
(Photo: IMAGO/Björn Trotsky)
Berlin, Moscow, Kyiv The German government’s decision to ship heavy weapons from Germany to Ukraine is now followed by a logistical challenge. Tanks like the Cheetah and other large weapon systems must first be brought inland and further to the front lines. The following applies: the Western partners are in charge up to the Ukrainian border, while the Ukrainians are responsible in the country itself.
Russian warplanes and targeted missile attacks pose a threat when transporting heavy weapons around the country, but the darkness and dense vegetation are natural allies. Experts speak of breaking the “signature” of the vehicles, i.e. making them unrecognizable to the eye and beyond. Because the heat radiation during operation is also characteristic of a tank, just like the barrel of the cannon or chains immediately catch the eye.
There is much to be said for rail transport, says a military expert. But a trip on civilian low-loaders, covered and as a single transport, is also an option – i.e. ant method instead of convoy. “The Ukrainians have turned out to be very clever,” it says.
Russia uses satellites to spot targets in Ukraine. Western military have also firmly taken into account that Russian special forces in western Ukraine can keep an eye on sections of route and direct targeted attacks. Since Russian warplanes cannot move there unthreatened because of the Ukrainians’ anti-aircraft defenses, Russia relies on rocket attacks and on stationary targets – such as real or supposed weapons depots.
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It’s about deception and camouflage. According to information from the German Press Agency, the 50 Gepard tanks are not in the same place in Germany. They have been “mothballed” in a controlled manner, but can also be delivered at short notice. Whether there are problems with individual vehicles will ultimately only become apparent when they are technically upgraded.
Training and logistics take time
Almost effusively, the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov thanked his German colleague Christine Lambrecht for the announced delivery of anti-aircraft tanks. But the 55-year-old also knows that after a good two months of bloodshed and the loss of thousands of soldiers, the country is facing “extremely difficult weeks”.
Weapons training and logistics would take time, Resnikov said. It is clear to him that Russia not only sees a further massive escalation in the conflict in the massive increase in military aid, but is also targeting heavy weapons.
Almost every day, the Russian armed forces are reporting on how they are destroying stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, including rockets, in Ukraine. Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov, for many Moscow’s best-known face in the war, coolly explains in morning and evening videos of the Ministry of Defense where which object was hit. As at an arms show, he presents how missiles are fired – from warships or aircraft or ground-based air defense.
In March, the Russian military announced the first deployment of its new Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile in western Ukraine. A missile arsenal in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine was destroyed. Kalibr rockets or the dreaded Iskander also fly. In the end, railway and track systems were hit again and again. Because sea or air transport is out of the question, the weapons can only reach Ukraine overland. They are likely to be increasingly targeted by the Russian army in the future.
More Handelsblatt articles on arms deliveries to Ukraine
The declared goal of Putin’s war is a “demilitarization” of Ukraine. Russia therefore sees the weapons and ammunition supplied by the NATO states as “legitimate” targets, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized in Moscow. In an interview with Russian state television that received worldwide attention, he even warned of the “real” danger of a third world war.
The “turning point” in Germany in particular is a hit with many in Russia – and even leads to comparisons with the German Reich’s Russian campaign of 1941 under dictator Adolf Hitler in World War II. As early as March, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of a “particularly cynical” policy when it came to the delivery of 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 “Stinger” type surface-to-air missiles.
After the decision on the delivery of heavy weapons this week, ex-president and deputy head of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, also recalled the Nazi era: “It will end sadly.” Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, however, repeatedly warns against interference in the conflict over Ukraine from the outside. Not only had the nuclear weapons been put on high alert. This week he again threatened “lightning quick” retaliation should there be any interference.
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