Berlin under fire over arms for Kyiv

Backed off promise to send heavy weapons

• Germany was accused of backtracking on its pledge to buy heavy weapons for Ukraine Thursday, amid reports it vetoed key items requested by Kyiv.

Olaf Scholz’s government this week pledged euros 1 billion ($1.36 billion) to supply Ukraine with weapons to fight Russia’s assault on the Donbas.

However, Berlin quietly removed heavy weapons, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, from a shopping list agreed with Kyiv, according to details leaked to Bild newspaper.

Scholz’s government defended its actions Thursday and said it was in talks with NATO and European Union partners to supply the weapons in question.

Christine Lambrecht, the German defence minister, said talks were at an advanced stage and she expected an agreement in “the next few days.”

According to details leaked to Bild, Germany only agreed to supply three of 15 types of weapons requested by Ukraine. Items rejected included Leopard tanks, multiple rocket launchers (MLRS), armoured personnel carriers and howitzers.

Germany now claims it will instead seek agreements with unnamed allies to supply tanks and other heavy weapons from their Sovietera stocks.

Under the proposed exchange, Berlin will pay to replace the items in question with new, modern weapons from German manufacturers.

“It’s about tanks, armoured personnel carriers, different options that individual countries have to give up. We’re talking about that and it’s going quickly now,” Lambrecht told German television. “It’s a matter of the next few days.”

Scholz has come under intense pressure after he refused to supply Ukraine with any more weapons from German military stocks this week. He claimed it would leave Germany unable to defend itself or meet its NATO obligations. He pledged instead to “enable Ukraine to buy commercially produced military equipment” and promised 1 billion euros to buy Kyiv all the weapons it needs.

However, that commitment has come into question after the details leaked to Bild suggested Berlin had vetoed most of the weapons on Ukraine’s list and agreed to only 307 million euros of purchases.

“The weapons we need are not even on this list,” Andrij Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, complained earlier this week.

The talks with European allies on a possible weapons exchange may go some way to assuaging Ukrainian concerns, but so far Germany has refused to name the countries or the weapons in question.

The proposals will also come under intense scrutiny over their similarity to schemes that failed in the past. In the early stages of the war, Poland offered to supply Ukraine with MIG fighter jets in exchange for newer American aircraft.

But the scheme foundered when it became clear no one wanted the responsibility of actually delivering the fighters to Ukraine. The new proposals also bear a striking resemblance to the plans for Germany to supply Ukraine with light tanks which prompted Scholz to offer money instead.

The German opposition is considering forcing a vote in parliament next week on delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine.