Ukraine is scheduled to receive the first delivery in July

anti-aircraft tank “Gepard”

The tank can fire up to 1100 rounds per minute.

(Photo: IMAGO/Sven Eckelkamp)

Berlin Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov made it exciting: He had just had a very productive video conference with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht (SPD), he tweeted on Friday afternoon. There was talk about the launch of a new, very significant project that will increase the defense capability of the Ukrainian army. “Details will follow soon,” Reznikov wrote.

A little later it became clear what he meant. The first 15 of the “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks promised at the end of April are to be delivered to Ukraine in July, with another 15 to follow in the summer. Your Ukrainian counterpart expressly confirmed once again that his country would like the weapon system to be delivered as quickly as possible “including the 59,000 rounds of ammunition available from Germany,” said Lambrecht after the video link.

Only a day earlier, opposition leader and CDU leader Friedrich Merz had criticized in the Bundestag that, contrary to the announcement by the federal government, practically no heavy weapons were currently being delivered to Ukraine, and called for Lambrecht’s dismissal. The chair of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), then accused Merz of being poorly informed. Otherwise he would have known that heavy weapons were being prepared, she said on the TV station “Welt”.

There had been some confusion about the “cheetah”. The anti-aircraft weapon, long since decommissioned by the Bundeswehr, was on the Ukrainians’ wish list immediately after the outbreak of war. According to the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk, the federal government has signaled that there is no ammunition for the “cheetah”. That is why the Ukrainian side was surprised by the announcement at the end of April that the tanks were to be delivered after all. But without ammunition, the system is worthless, said Melnyk.

Top jobs of the day

Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.

The two 35 mm machine cannons together can fire up to 1100 rounds per minute, so that the ammunition supply promised by Lambrecht is likely to be quickly exhausted. It is not yet known whether Ukraine can hope for ammunition from other countries. The “cheetah” is still in use in Brazil, for example – and in Qatar, where it was purchased to protect the stadiums at the soccer World Cup. Switzerland had prohibited Germany from passing on ammunition produced in Switzerland, citing its principle of neutrality.

The “Gepard” tanks for Ukraine are to be prepared for use by the industry. The manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has a middle two-digit number from the disbanded army air defense of the Bundeswehr. According to Lambrecht, the first Ukrainian crews should be trained by mid-July.

More: Germany delivers Leopard 2 tanks to the Czech Republic

source site-17