Germany points finger at Britain as anger grows over failure to send weapons to Ukraine

 Olaf Scholz under pressure over refusal to hand over tanks

Source- Daily Telegraph 21/04/22

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Germany pointed the finger at Britain on Wednesday as it sought to deflect a growing international row over its refusal to send heavy weapons to Ukraine.

A senior German diplomat demanded to know why London was not under the same pressure as Berlin to supply light tanks to Kyiv.

“Everybody is focussed on Marder but what about the British Warrior or French AMX?” asked Brigadier General Michael Oberneyer, the German defence attaché in the UK.

Germany is facing demands from Ukraine and Western allies to hand over 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) from its military stocks.

The UK has hundreds of equivalent Warrior IFVs in storage which it plans to retire by 2025.

But Ukrainian demands have focused on the German Marders, which Olaf Scholz’s government claims it cannot spare.

Britain has already delivered £350 million of weapons, including Starstreak air defence systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles, and pledged to send £100 million more.

By contrast Germany has come under criticism over its reluctance to provide Ukraine with heavy weaponry.

Volydymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, on Wednesday dismissed claims by Mr Scholz that the German military had already handed over all it could spare.

“It is unfair that Ukraine is still forced to ask for what its partners have been storing somewhere for years,” said Mr Zelensky.

Mr Scholz is facing growing domestic pressure from within his own coalition government and from the German opposition over his Ukraine policy.

A senior backbench MP from his coalition partners accused him on Wednesday of risking a Third World War with his reluctance to send heavy weapons and his opposition to an embargo on Russian oil and gas.

“We are slowing down the sanctions and arms deliveries, and there is a risk that the war will drag ever longer,” said Anton Hofreiter of the Greens.

“The longer the war drags on, the greater the risk other countries will be attacked and we will slide into a de facto Third World War.”

The opposition Christian Democrats are threatening to force a vote in parliament on the question to expose divisions within Mr Scholz’s government.

Friedrich Merz, their leader, claimed there is “massive resistance” to arming Ukraine within Mr Scholz’s Social Democrat party.

“The chancellor is avoiding this issue because he's afraid his own party will openly object to it,” Mr Merz said.

Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister and a leading Green, has spoken out in favour of sending heavy weapons.

But on Wednesday she backed Mr Scholz’s claim that the German military could not send any more of its own stocks.

The embattled chancellor was also supported by the German military, after the deputy chief of staff warned that sending Ukraine infantry fighting vehicles would leave Germany underequipped and unable to fulfil its Nato obligations.

“We would no longer be able to react to eventualities, and that would significantly weaken our defensive capability,” said Lt-Gen Markus Laubenthal.

At the heart of the row are proposals for Germany to hand over 100 Marder IFVs to Ukraine.

Kyiv has arranged to buy 100 decommissioned Marders from the German arms company Rheinmetall.

But the manufacturer says they need to be restored and it will be several months before they are operational.

It proposed an arrangement under which Germany would send 100 of its operational Marders to Ukraine and take the restored vehicles in their place.

That was vetoed by Mr Scholz who has pledged €1 billion (£830 million) of funds to Ukraine to buy military equipment instead.

But Kyiv says that will take too long and it needs heavy weapons immediately to face the Russian offensive in the Donbas.

“With MLRS [multi launch rocket system] we can win Mariupol, but it has to be delivered now, not in three months," said Maria Mezentseva, a Ukrainian MP for Kharkiv.

“How many Buchas do we need to have to have more weapons? We know that their warehouses have stuff."

Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, who was kidnapped by Russian forces after his city was seized, added: “Will Germany support Russian aggression or will it support civilian citizens in Ukraine? We want to hear this position.” 

Andrij Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to German, said: “The claim the Bundeswehr is no longer able to deliver anything to Ukraine is incomprehensible."

Mr Melnynk claimed Germany had 400 Marders, 100 of which were used only for training and could easily be sent to Ukraine.

But these figures were disputed by Gen Laubenthal, who said the extra Marders were currently used for spare parts to keep its fighting force operational.

“That means we are using them, so to speak, so that we can actually deploy those we need for our Nato obligations and on Nato’s eastern flank,” he said.

The same argument was put forward by Brig-Gen Oberneyer, the defence attaché to the UK.

“Marder has recently been upgraded as it is old and difficult to support with spare parts. We need to use some Marder as spare parts to keep a certain number operational,” said Brig-Gen Oberneyer.

“We need to train our own forces on Marder. If we delivered 25 to Ukraine we would not be able to train our own soldiers.

“If we were to hand over our systems to Ukraine and wait for the defence industry to supply equipment it would create a gap which is not acceptable with our obligation to Nato.”

Germany’s military suffered from years of chronic underfunding under Angela Merkel and it is not uncommon for it to use old stocks for spare parts.

Military experts have warned that with German stocks low, supplying ammunition for any Marders Berlin hands over could also prove challenging.

But frustration is growing at Berlin’s reluctance. “If the Western world no longer has the courage to police the rules-based order that it introduced, even in such egregious circumstances, Ukraine will just be the beginning of the end of the peace and prosperity that so many have had the courage to fight for in the past,” said one EU diplomat.

Meanwhile Ms Baerbock pledged that Germany would end its imports of Russian oil and gas - just not immediately.

"I therefore say here clearly and unequivocally yes, Germany is also completely phasing out Russian energy imports," she said. 

"We will halve oil by the summer and will be at zero by the end of the year, and then gas will follow, in a joint European roadmap, because our joint exit, the complete exit of the European Union, is our common strength."