Kyiv has requested that Germany send Leopard tanks to assist in the fight against Russia. Will Germany come through with the tanks?
Western defense leaders met in Germany on Friday to discuss whether or not to send German Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The Leopard tanks would help serve as a weapon, a shield and a way to transport more weapons into and throughout the country.
Why is Germany hesitant to send tanks to Ukraine?
Since the Berlin Wall came down, Germany has committed to encouraging world “peace,” The New York Times reported. However, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it caused Germany and many other countries to rethink global strategies.
“Germans want to be seen as a partner, not an aggressor, and they have a particular sensitivity to delivering arms in regions where German arms were historically used to kill millions of people,” Steven E. Sokol, president of the American Council on Germany, told the Times.
According to CNN, soon after the initial attacks in February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a speech to parliament where he “committed to spending €100 billion ($108 billion) to modernize Germany’s military capacity,” as well as increase defense spending to hit a NATO target it had missed for years prior. He also promised Germany would become less reliant on Russia to provide energy to the country.
Much of those promises have not come to fruition yet, and Germany’s hesitancy to send the tanks to help Ukraine’s fight has prompted backlash from other world leaders.
The country has around 2,000 such tanks that are all over Europe, including in Poland, The Washington Post reported.
What are people saying about German tanks?
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told CNN that Germany was “the least proactive country out of the group, to put it mildly,” referring to Germany’s lack of involvement in the fight compared to its fellow NATO country members. He also said he might send some of the German tanks from Poland to Ukraine, even if he doesn’t get permission from Germany.
U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham said he’s “tired” of waiting around for a decision on the tanks and that “Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe by force of arms. World order is at stake,” per Business Insider.