MOSCOW, 18 Sep — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. Germany will give Kiev even more weapons. According to media reports, we are talking about heavy armored vehicles. The government of Olaf Scholz is under pressure from Washington on this issue. About what was promised to Ukraine — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Pressure on the Chancellor
Encouraged by the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, the authorities of the NATO countries promise to increase military assistance. German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock called on the government and alliance allies to provide Kiev with tanks and heavy armored vehicles. According to her, it is impossible to delay this, since "Ukraine is at a turning point in the military campaign."
However, the same Berbok complained at the end of August about the meager stocks of military equipment in the Bundeswehr itself. For a number of types of weapons sent to Ukraine, she said, there is a shortage. And in general, Berlin was not eager to help Kiev. German journalists wrote that the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly asked the German government to add weapons since June, but to no avail.
Now everything is different. The German newspaper Bild reports that most of the government members support the transfer of additional weapons to the Ukrainian allies, including Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Fuchs armored personnel carriers. Olaf Scholz's office is being actively pushed towards this from overseas. The US State Department sent a message to the German Foreign Ministry saying that Washington "would welcome such deliveries."
But the decision has not yet been made. Politico, citing its own sources, writes that Scholz complained to Putin about Washington's pressure during a recent conversation.
However, analysts doubt that Germany will provide modern samples.
German soldiers of the Bundeswehr Image Source: © AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis
"In Berlin, they know how to count money and understand that this whole situation is extremely unprofitable for them," says military expert Alexei Leonkov. — What they could share without harming themselves is already in Ukraine. And defense orders, which the Chancellor is ready to generously finance, are needed first of all by themselves. No one will give new equipment that has come off the assembly line. Your shirt is closer to your body."
Tanks with crosses
On the other hand, it is possible that the allies will put the squeeze on Scholz. What can Germany transfer to Ukraine? First, the Leopard 1 main battle tanks. In Berlin, a few months ago, they promised to send about a hundred of these machines, but so far they have not done so.
These are the first candidates for the gift of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as they hang like a dead weight on the German military budget. "Leopards" were finally decommissioned in 2010, their storage costs a pretty penny.
Tanks are considered obsolete. The armor penetration of their 105-millimeter guns is not enough to effectively combat modern versions of the T-72, T-80 and T-90. But the A5 modification cars are equipped with a fairly good fire control system, as well as night vision devices and thermal imagers. They may well be useful to the APU when conducting an ambush battle. More than a dozen States are still armed with tanks of this type.
German Leopard 2 tank Image Source: © AP Photo / Michael Sohn
Leopard 2 main battle tanks are quite modern and very dangerous. The latest modification of the A7 has excellent booking, an effective fire control system, long-range sights, good driving qualities. However, there are only 225 second Leopards in the German tank fleet, of which the A7 is less than 20.
If Berlin decides to send heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine, it will probably stop at the A4 modification. There are about 80 vehicles of this type in army warehouses. This is the most common version of the Leopard-2 in the world.
Adopted in the mid-1980s, the tank was intended to fight the Soviet T-64, T-72 and T-80. It is still a formidable opponent on the battlefield.
Cover the infantry
The assistance package may also include armored vehicles for infantry. In the arsenal of the Bundeswehr there are about 380 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which have been in service since 1970. Gradually, they are being replaced by the new Puma.
German armored fighting vehicle Puma Image source: © AFP 2022 / John MacDougall
Marder is one of the most successful machines of the Western design school of the second half of the XX century. At the time of adoption, the BMP surpassed competitors from other NATO countries in terms of protection. The main feature is high speed. This allows you to work together with tanks as part of a strike group. The armament of the Marder, however, is quite modest: a 20-millimeter automatic cannon, two 7.62-millimeter machine guns and the Milan ATGM.
To transport infantry away from the fighting, there are Fuchs armored personnel carriers, which have been in service since 1979. The Bundeswehr has about 360 cars of this type in various modifications. They were actively used in Afghanistan and proved to be reliable and unpretentious equipment. The APC takes on board ten paratroopers, the power reserve on the highway is up to 800 kilometers.
It is still unclear whether the Fuchs will appear together with other heavy equipment in the steppes of Donbass. It is quite possible that the Germans will limit themselves to promises, for which Berlin has been criticized more than once both in Kiev and in Washington.
