Germany failing to keep heavy weapons promise to Kyiv

Scholz has sent no major firepower since end of March, amid signs of scaling back supplies

GERMANY has failed to provide any heavy weapons to Ukrainian forces in recent weeks and appears to be scaling back its military support in a break from Western policy, leaked documents have revealed.

According to official documents seen by German broadsheet Welt, the country has not supplied any significant weapons to Ukraine since the end of March, despite vowing to grant Ukrainian forces the weapons they need to repulse the Russian army.

In the nine weeks since the end of March, Germany has made only two deliveries to Ukraine, which were made up of small arms.

In contrast with Western allies who are sending large quantities of anti-tank and air defence weaponry such as NLAW launchers, as well as artillery, Germany has provided around 4,600 anti-tank mines. It has also delivered smaller military equipment such as spare parts, detonating cords, radios, hand grenades and explosive charges, but has failed to provide the heavy weapons and artillery that the Ukrainian government has called for.

The German government did not confirm the report, telling Welt that “information on specific weapons deliveries is security-relevant and classified…[we] can neither provide more detailed information nor confirm details”. Germany approved a delivery of heavy weapons including tanks late last month, after weeks of hesitation, with chancellor Olaf Scholz initially saying he preferred to act in accordance with Nato allies.

He also justified his reluctance by claiming he was seeking to avoid the risk of nuclear war.

In a recent speech, Mr Scholz said “Ich bin nicht Kaiser Wilhelm”, referring to the last emperor who hastened Germany towards the First World War.

The failure to deliver heavy weapons stands in stark contrast with the German leader’s rhetoric in recent weeks, with him saying as recently as Thursday that Germany had an unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s defence.

“Putin will only seriously negotiate peace if he realises that he cannot break Ukraine’s defences. That is why we support Ukraine,” Mr Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He said any heavy weapons deliveries would be “closely co-ordinated with our partners and allies”.

Germany’s allies – including several Nato members – have, however, continued to provide Ukraine with both heavy and light weapons in recent weeks.

A spokesman from the Ukrainian defence forces said on Saturday that it had received missiles and self-propelled howitzers from Denmark and the United States in recent days.

Mr Scholz has been under fire at home and abroad for failing to deliver full support. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s opposition leader, visited Ukraine early this month, saying Mr Scholz’s appeasement policy was weak and insecure.

“The chancellor answered all the questions no one asked, and he has not answered a single one of the questions we asked him,” Mr Merz said at the time.

On Saturday, Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, criticised Germany for its lack of military support despite promises it would restock Poland’s military.

“If we were supported by our German allies with tanks to replace those ones we gave to Ukraine, we’d be very grateful,” he said. “We had such a promise. We hear Germany isn’t ready to fulfil [it].” Germany promised Ukraine 30 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks last month, which have not been delivered.

In the middle of this month, Mr Scholz said that the tanks had not yet been delivered, as they “had to be prepared”. However, Ukrainian military sources have said the true reason for the delay is to train its forces on the tanks, with which they are unfamiliar.

A Ukrainian source told Die Welt that the training of the first 45 soldiers will not start until June 13 and will end on July 22. As a result, half of the tanks will be delivered at the end of July, with the rest to be delivered at the end of August.

German government and military officials were due to meet in Berlin last night to discuss how to spend Mr Scholz’s one-time €100billion (£85billion) military budget injection, which will mean Germany hitting Nato’s spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.

The Green party’s Robert Habeck, the economic affairs minister, yesterday said that the funds would ensure “the Bundeswehr [German armed forces] receives as many new weapons and functional equipment as possible and that the financing of necessary securityrelated systems is not excluded”.