Germany's ruling coalition proposes to directly supply tanks to Ukraine
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Due to the sluggish supply of weapons to Ukraine through the circular supply chain, German Free Democratic Party's politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is now also open to supplying German tanks to Kyiv directly.
Spiegel reports this.
The head of the defense committee of the Bundestag admits that the Eastern European allies were not able to find a replacement for arms supplies to Ukraine as quickly as expected.
"If it's a problem for partners, we should stop the circular exchange and deliver directly to Ukraine — maybe including the (main battle tank) Leopard 2. Time is running out," Strack-Zimmermann said.
The idea of circular exchange arose soon after the war in Ukraine began. The goal was to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons quickly. For this, NATO's eastern partners must provide Soviet-style weapons that the Ukrainian military can use without additional training. Instead, they had to get Western models from NATO partners such as Germany.
"When it comes to the circular exchange, which is a good idea in principle, the reality does not match the wishes or expectations of the Eastern European partners, especially in terms of delivery time frames," Strack-Zimmerman said.
According to her, it is pretty evident that Germany cannot deliver the equipment as quickly as expected. Otherwise, the Bundeswehr would not need a 100 billion euro modernization program.
"In this way, we can transmit the materiel only in parts," Strack-Zimmermann said.
However, she noted that the Bundeswehr had enough Marder armored personnel carriers and that industry would replace them within a year.
"We could also directly deliver the Fuchs vehicle," she added.
Earlier, the vice president of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, from the Green Party, declared openness to direct supplies of tanks to Ukraine. The Young Liberals also criticized the circular exchange procedure.
"The federal government should follow up on its clearly stated position that russia must not win this war with clear action. From our point of view, this also includes the direct delivery of significantly more heavy weapons to Ukraine," said the chairwoman of the FDP youth organization, Franziska Brandmann.
Earlier, Poland accused Berlin of "deception maneuvers." Germany is very slow to replace the Polish tanks already delivered to Ukraine. The Polish government feels duped, and wants to rely on help from other NATO partners.
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