As reported by the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" in the material Klaus Geiger, Gregor Schwung "Trotz Versprechungen liefert Deutschland seit neun Wochen kaum Waffen" ("Despite promises, Germany has practically not supplied weapons in nine weeks"), apparently, over the past nine weeks, the German government has reduced its military support to Ukraine to a minimum. Until now, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (from the SPD) has refused to supply German tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, citing agreements with NATO allies. But, as can be seen from the documents available to the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag", since the end of March, Germany has also almost not supplied Ukraine with any noteworthy light weapons.
A soldier of the special forces of the Armed Forces of Russia in Ukraine with a captured German Panzerfaust 3 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher with a DM32 Bunkerfaust anti-bunker shot, May 2022 (m) Telegram channel "Russian Standard Z"
In the period from March 30 to May 26, 2022, Ukraine received only two shipments of weapons from the German federal government. Both batches included only portable weapons. According to the list, in mid-May, Germany sent 3,000 anti-tank mines [DM31 - bmpd] and another 1,600 anti-tank anti-ship mines [DM22].
Ukraine is losing territories in the east
The main problem facing the Ukrainian army at the moment is the superiority of Russian firepower in the east of the country. There is little that can be countered with the help of mines. On May 28, Russia announced "full control" over the strategically important small town of Liman in the Donbass. It is reported about air and rocket attacks on the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.
On May 27, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation as difficult and declared fierce resistance, and that "Donbass will remain Ukrainian." His army protects the country as much as "current defense resources" allow. He has repeatedly called on the international community to supply more weapons.
Upon request, a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense told Welt: "Information about specific arms shipments is security-related and classified, so I ask for your understanding that I can neither provide more detailed information nor confirm the details."
Another German delivery, different from the May one, arrived in Ukraine a month earlier. However, it included only spare parts for machine guns, detonators, detonating cords, radio stations, hand grenades, explosive charges and mines.
According to Ukrainian data, the last delivery [by Germany] of anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons took place on March 25, more than two months ago. It included 2,000 Panzerfaust 3 hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers and 1,500 Strela-2 portable anti-aircraft missiles.
However, according to the Ukrainian request list of March 29, the need for these weapons remains. Thus, in addition to Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-tank weapons, the Ukrainian army also needs anti-ship missiles of the Harpoon type. Ukraine confirmed the latter to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) in letters dated April 9 and May 1.
Germany has not yet fulfilled these requests, although Chancellor Scholz has publicly promised further supplies. For several weeks, he has been repeating that support for Kiev continues, most recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos on May 26: "Putin will go to serious peace talks only if he realizes that he cannot break Ukraine's defense capability. That's why we support Ukraine."
Putin threatens Scholz in a telephone conversation
On May 28, the Russian president again threatened Scholz in a telephone conversation. According to Russian sources, Putin called further arms shipments "dangerous." There is a risk that the situation in Ukraine "will continue to destabilize."
Since there has been no help from Berlin for several weeks, the German government is distancing itself from its allies, who continue to supply light weapons in addition to heavy equipment. On May 28, Kiev announced that it had received Harpoon missiles from Denmark and even more self-propelled howitzers from the United States [meaning, presumably, 155-mm self-propelled howitzers M109A3N, transferred by Norway].
In mid-May, Washington awarded a contract to the defense company Lockheed Martin to produce 1300 Javelin missiles for Kiev. Italy has said it will send anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and mortars, and the UK has promised hundreds of Brimstone anti-tank missiles.
As for heavy weapons, Scholz put forward the motto "to supply only in step with NATO partners." The support was "closely coordinated with our partners and allies," he confirmed on May 26. Since no NATO country supplies Western-style tanks, this was the reason for refusing to supply German battle tanks and armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
Export applications have been submitted to the Federal Security Council for several weeks
Export applications submitted by the industry for the sale of 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 88 Leopard 1 tanks to Kiev have been submitted to the German Federal Security Council (Bundessicherheitsrat) for five weeks. But there is no "movement" on them, as it became known to "Welt" from Ukrainian government circles. Upon request, the Council's office said: "Please understand that the federal Government... basically, it only informs about the final positive decisions on the approval of [export hayavok]."
At the end of April, the German government announced the delivery of 30 Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns to Ukraine. However, at that time it was unclear where the [35 mm] ammunition for them should have come from [since after the removal of the Gepard ZSU from the Bundeswehr armament in 2012, there were practically no 35 mm shots left for them in storage. - bmpd]. Four weeks later, the federal government was able to find 59,000 shots. However, the first 15 Gepard ZSU will not be delivered [to Ukraine] until the end of July, as Minister Lambrecht announced. As the reason for the delay, Scholz on May 17 called the requirements for which the ZSU "had to be prepared."
However, according to the Kiev government circles, the real reason for the delay in delivery is the training of the Ukrainian military at the Gepard ZSU, which was probably completed only at the end of July. According to their information, the delivery time is related to this.
The training of the first 45 Ukrainian servicemen begins no earlier than June 13 and ends on July 22. For the second group of Ukrainian servicemen, it will begin on July 18 and end on August 26, so the remaining 15 Gepard ZSU will not be delivered until the end of August.
At the request of the Federal Ministry of Defense, they stated that this is an "export project of industry" [Gepard ZSU is transferred from the storage of KMW. - bmpd]. The spokeswoman said: "The training of Ukrainian servicemen and the supply of ammunition are also the responsibility of the industry."
