Olaf Scholz rebuffed the request last weekend, as he hosted Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the Polish tysol.pl website wrote on Tuesday, citing Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper.
“Despite the pleas of Ukraine’s PM Denys Shmyhal, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused to supply heavy weaponry to Kyiv, especially the Leopard 2 tanks,” Der Spiegel reported, as quoted by tysol.pl.
“The government in Berlin doesn’t see it as an option, even though one of the arms makers is ready to support Ukraine,” the German daily added.
According to Der Spiegel, the company in question, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), back in April offered to supply Ukraine with 100 Leopard 2A7 tanks, complete with spare parts, in a shipment worth EUR 1.55 billion. KMW said the first machines could be delivered within 36 months from the signing of an agreement, Der Spiegel wrote, as cited by tysol.pl.
'General remarks'
According to the German newspaper, Scholz “refused to commit to this shipment,” and made only “general and non-specific remarks” during his talks with Shmyhal.
Moreover, the chancellor “expressed no willingness to change his negative stance towards the shipments [of Leopards], Der Spiegel noted, as quoted by tysol.pl.
Back in June, “under pressure from Germany’s allies, especially the US,” Scholz announced in the Bundestag that his government would send weapons to Ukraine, including 30 self-propelled anti-aircraft Gepard guns, as well as howitzers, tysol.pl wrote.
'Germany's indecisiveness'
However, Berlin’s indecisiveness on the issue has led “NATO’s Eastern European members to change their stance towards Germany,” according to tysol.pl.
“Countries that used to buy German arms are now purchasing weapons from the US and South Korea,” the Polish website wrote, citing an August report in Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Tuesday is day 195 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: tysol.pl, dorzeczy.pl