The Biden administration has “no objection” to the idea of Germany sending main battle tanks to Ukraine.
“On the question of tanks, we have no objection,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Muenster, Germany. “In fact, we support any country, if it so decides, making those available if we make a determination that that can really help Ukraine and meet a need.”
Germany has declined to open its arsenal of Leopard tanks to Ukraine on the grounds that no other NATO allies have provided such Western-made systems. Blinken’s comment could lend itself to appeals from Kyiv and the central European members of NATO for Berlin to provide more assistance, but the top U.S. diplomat was careful to strike a complimentary note about Germany’s support for Ukraine.
“I can only applaud what Germany has done in defense of Ukraine these past almost nine months,” Blinken said. “Germany has been one of Ukraine’s largest donors, including lethal security assistance. It’s played a hugely important humanitarian role, hosting more than a million Ukrainian refugees.”
RUSSIA EXPOSES GERMANY’S WEAKNESS
Germany has drawn criticism throughout the war in Ukraine, which dates back to 2014, but the rebukes have been especially sharp in the last year. At the moment when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his campaign to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the 5,000 helmets Germany had provided to Ukraine were perceived as a symbol of Berlin’s unwillingness to confront threats to Europe.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s declaration of a new era of German rearmament, just days after the assault began, heartened Ukrainian officials and NATO members east of Berlin, but that was just a temporary reprieve to the controversy.
“No country has delivered Western-built infantry fighting vehicles or main battle tanks so far,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in September. “We have agreed with our partners that Germany will not take such action unilaterally.”
Scholz has agreed instead to transfer tanks to Poland and other Eastern European states that already have provided their own legacy Soviet tanks to Ukraine — a backfilling operation that has moved more slowly than the other allies wanted. The continuing disagreements have stoked intense frustration with Berlin throughout central and Eastern Europe.
“They’re actually, especially [the] Germans, they’re actually scared of defeating Russia and defeating Putin, and they would prefer a defeated or destroyed Ukraine,” a senior European official opined in a recent conversation with the Washington Examiner.
The official allowed that this putative German attitude is more a function of fear than any antipathy to Ukraine, though a distrust for Scholz’s motives simmered throughout the assessment.
“They actually are scared, or they are receptive — or they want to be receptive — to Russian propaganda,” the official said. “They are scared of Putin’s blackmail with the nukes, or with tactical nukes, and with the escalation risks.”
Scholz’s defenders can point out that German military assistance dwarfs the aid provided by France, but his refusal to match British and American contributions rankles more, given that his predecessor deepened Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas. That energy dependence has provided Putin with a crucial financial lifeline during the war and forced Scholz’s government to scramble to secure enough natural gas to power Germany through the winter without Putin’s involvement.
“What is Germany’s historic responsibility towards Ukraine today?” Zelensky said in March. “We could see your willingness to continue to do business with Russia, and now, we’re in the middle of the cold war.”
Zelensky’s team expects that Germany and other countries will send an influx of tanks and other weapons eventually — but only after President Joe Biden does so as well.
“We understand that all our partners who have an industry that can produce tanks — like Britain, France, and Germany — they will wait for the political decision from the United States,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said last month. “After the first Abrams [arrives], I’m sure we will have Leopards, [Marder German infantry fighting vehicles], and other types of heavy armored vehicles like tanks.”
Biden’s team announced Friday that the United States, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic are coordinating to refurbish 90 Soviet-made T-72 main battle tanks currently owned by the Czechs.
“First 26 repaired and modernized tanks will arrive within the next month,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. “Thank you, friends, for your unwavering solidarity with Ukraine.”
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Blinken was noncommittal about future shipments of Western-made tanks. “Every country decides what it can and will contribute to this effort, and Germany has made major contributions in the provision of defense equipment and lethal assistance to Ukraine,” he said Friday. “And we will continue to evaluate that as — together as we go along. We’re focused on what it is that Ukraine actually needs and can effectively use … because some of the sophisticated equipment requires significant maintenance to keep it going and keeping it running. So, for each and every piece of equipment, we’re making together those judgments, and thus far, I think that’s served Ukraine very well.”
