Germany urged to supply Kyiv with Leopard tanks

A number of German politicians support the idea of ​​transferring Leopard tanks to Kyiv, this was stated, in particular, to the Funke media group by the Vice President of the Bundestag, Katrin Goering-Eckardt.

Goering-Eckardt supported the sending of battle tanks to Ukraine against the background of the promise of the FRG to supply about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. According to her, it would be wrong to stop at the supply of BMP Marder. “We must do and deliver everything that is possible. Including tanks “Leopard”, – said Göring-Eckardt (quoted from Hamburger Abendblatt). The position of the Vice President of the Bundestag is shared by the Deputy Vice President of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Wolfgang Kubicki, who, however, warned that every step in support of Ukraine must be closely coordinated with NATO partners.

At the same time, the co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, expressed doubts about the supply of tanks and also pointed out the need for coordination with the countries of the military alliance. “No country supplies such heavy battle tanks as the Leopard 1 or 2,” he said.

According to a survey published earlier by Bild, the decision of the German government to supply the Marder BMP to Ukraine caused a mixed reaction: 49% of respondents called it rather wrong, and 40% supported the shipment of weapons. In addition, 50% of the Germans polled opposed the supply of battle tanks, 38% voted in favor.

According to Hamburger Abendblatt, Marder vehicles are designed to securely transport small groups of soldiers into and around the combat area and for fire support. The Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 battle tanks “have high firepower, a small permanent crew and are used to destroy enemy tanks or other targets,” the newspaper notes.

On January 5, the press service of the White House, following the results of negotiations between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, announced that Washington intends to supply Bradley tracked infantry fighting vehicles and a Patriot air defense system to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Berlin, they noted, will supply Kyiv with its Marder tracked infantry fighting vehicles and an additional Patriot battery. The Russian embassy in Germany called this decision of the FRG “another step towards the escalation of the conflict”, expressing the opinion that Berlin decided on it under the influence of Washington.

In September, the Bild newspaper reported that most members of the German government support the transfer of additional weapons to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Fuchs armored personnel carriers. At the same time, German Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht said that Berlin would not supply Western-style battle tanks to Kyiv until none of the German partners made such a decision.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized Western military assistance to Ukraine. In this regard, back in April, Moscow sent a note of protest to all countries, including the United States. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that by supplying weapons to Ukraine, the United States is trying to prolong the conflict, as well as to benefit from it.