Ukrainian authorities offer the West a "fair deal. Partners provide us with all the heavy weapons we need, we fight and stop Russia now so that partners do not have to fight later," government officials say.
On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenski speaking in English, asked Ukraine's partners for help. He warned that his country would become a "bloodbath" without additional armaments.
Zelenski stressed that the Ukrainian army has been defending itself against Russia "much longer than the invaders planned."
"Russia is still able to attack not only Ukraine. Poland, Moldova, Romania and the Baltic states will become further targets if Ukraine's freedom is lost," he said. "More weapons are needed to save millions of Ukrainians and millions of Europeans," he added. He indicated that the military needs heavy artillery, armored vehicles, air defense systems and combat aircraft.
"Freedom must be armed better than tyranny," the president said. "Western countries have everything to make that happen. The final victory over tyranny and the number of people saved depends on them," Zelenski concluded.
The German media reported on new possibilities regarding the transfer of heavy armaments by Germany to Ukraine. This topic is still a subject of lively discussion in Germany.
German industrial group Rheinmetall AG was to declare the possibility of handing over 50 Leopard 1A5 tanks, withdrawn from service in the Bundeswehr back in 2003. The German daily "Handelsblatt" reported this, citing the words of the company's president and CEO Armin Papperger.
The vehicles need to be overhauled and improved, and the first tanks could be delivered to Ukraine within six weeks of the decision, with the others to follow over the next three months. The possible deal would be brokered by the company's Italian subsidiary, Rheinmetall Italia, which may suggest that ex-Italian vehicles are involved.
It isn't easy to assess to what extent these tanks would be an aid to Ukraine, and to what extent they would be a political gesture (or cleansing the warehouse). These are very old vehicles (the Leopard 1 entered service back in the 1960s, while the Leopard 1A5 version did so in 1987), their armament (105mm cannon with a furrowed barrel tube) has long been substandard, and their armor has always been rated as poor. In addition, this vehicle is atypical for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which mainly uses tanks of the T-64 and T-80 families (and a small number of T-72s, including captured vehicles).
In addition, several German politicians have appealed to the government in Berlin to provide heavy armaments to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also commented on Germany's provision of heavy weapons. She said that "now is no time for excuses, now is the time for creativity and pragmatism." She also declared that "her perspective on the situation has changed in recent weeks."
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee, offered a specific solution in an interview with the Rheinische Post newspaper. Maintaining her opinion that the deliveries to Ukraine are "not in line with the Bundeswehr's needs," she suggested that Germany should not deliver heavy weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces but to the states of the so-called Eastern Flank of NATO. These countries, which often have armaments at their disposal similar to those used by Ukraine (BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, T-72M/M1 tanks, 2S1 self-propelled howitzers, etc.), would transfer them to Ukraine in return for which they would receive compensation from Germany. She did not specify what this compensation would be.
The transfer of heavy weapons from the Bundeswehr or even from German industry is opposed by some politicians in the ruling coalition in Germany, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). He has repeatedly signaled that Germany should not transfer heavy weapons to Ukraine on its own but only as part of EU or NATO aid. He even said that "it would be a serious mistake for Germany to play a special role."
Interestingly, the Vice-Chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, Thomas Erndl (CDU), accused the Chancellor of deliberately delaying the deliveries, saying that "this is intolerable." He expressed that "Germany should be the leader in supplying heavy weapons." He even pointed to the conflict between the Chancellor and the head of the Interior Ministry, expressing the hope that "the foreign minister will prevail."
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