‘Cowardly’ Scholz faces flak from German MPs over tanks

GERMANY failed a historic test when it refused to send Ukraine battle tanks at a weapons-pledging conference, Olaf Scholz was warned by coalition allies.

Berlin’s failure to give the green light for the export of state-of-the-art Leopard tanks at yesterday’s meeting at the Ramstein air base in Germany drew criticism at home and abroad.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the pro-business FDP, which is part of Mr Scholz’s ruling coalition, said Vladimir Putin would be laughing at German indecision.

“History is looking at us, and unfortunately Germany has just failed,” the chairman of the defence committee in the Bundestag said.

“At the very least, it would have been the right thing to give our partners the green light,” she said.

About 15 European countries want to deliver their German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine but cannot without Berlin’s permission.

The German chancellor has refused to grant the export licences unless the US sends M1-Abrams battle tanks, which Washington has refused to do because they are too costly and difficult to maintain compared to the Leopards.

Ms Strack-Zimmermann, who predicted the Leopards would eventually be sent, branded Mr Scholz’s communication around the matter a “disaster”.

Despite Germany sending significant military support to Ukraine, the indecision around the Leopards gave the impression Berlin was withholding it, she said.

Johann Wadephul, from the opposition CDU, said: “We are witnessing Germany’s total failure on the international stage. Either out of stubbornness or cowardice, [Scholz] leaves Ukraine hanging,” he added.

Hans-Lothar Domröse, a former Nato general, told the Bild newspaper that “time that Ukraine doesn’t have” was being wasted. He said: “The Russians are bombing and we are discussing.”

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said Kyiv’s troops would begin training on Leopard tanks in Poland. “We’ll start with that and then move on,” he said, after Germany signalled it would not block “preparatory training”.

“Every day we make it clearer that there is no alternative to a decision on tanks,” Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said in his nightly speech after the Ramstein summit ended without a breakthrough.

“Indecision is killing more of our people. Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, his senior adviser.

The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia issued a statement yesterday urging Berlin to “provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now”.

‘We are witnessing Germany’s total failure on the international stage’