Ukraine war in Newsblog | Pistorius comments on leopards

Day 337 since the beginning of the war: The USA is probably considering delivering Abrams tanks after all. Switzerland could soon release ammunition. All information in the news blog.

1.50 p.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejects the delivery of fighter jets and combat troops to Ukraine. Like US President Joe Biden, he made this clear months ago in the debate about a no-fly zone. It stays that way, said the SPD politician on Wednesday in Berlin.

1:48 p.m.: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomes the planned delivery of German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. “At a critical moment in the Russian war, you can help Ukraine defend, win and assert itself as an independent nation,” the Norwegian said on Twitter on Wednesday. He welcomes the leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany.

1:32 p.m.: The federal government has not received any further applications from partner states to transfer Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin. However, he expects the partners to comment on this in the “coming hours and days”. Poland’s application was received on Tuesday.

1.30 p.m.: Finland will join the group of states providing tanks to Ukraine, according to Defense Minister Mikko Savola. “International cooperation on the delivery of leopards to Ukraine is now progressing and Finland will participate in it,” he told journalists. He declined to comment on the exact scope. But his country’s contribution will be limited.

1:28 p.m.: According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the first Leopard main battle tanks from Germany could be in Ukraine in about three months. The SPD politician said on Wednesday after a meeting of the Bundestag’s Defense Committee in Berlin. The training is now beginning very quickly and the supply routes will be clarified very quickly.

Pistorius called the decision to deliver the tanks “historic” because it was coordinated, in a “highly explosive situation in Ukraine.” But he also said: “That’s no reason to celebrate”, he had great understanding for those who were worried. “But one thing is clear, we won’t become a party to the war, we will see to that.”

1:06 p.m.: The Russian ambassador in Berlin, Sergey Nechayev, has described the German government’s decision to deliver Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine as “extremely dangerous”. This will “take the conflict to a new level of confrontation,” Nechayev said on Wednesday in the online service Telegram. The West finds itself in a logic of “permanent escalation”.

“This once again convinces us that Germany, like its closest allies, does not want a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis and is striving for a lasting escalation,” the ambassador said in a statement.

“With the permission of the German government, tanks with German crosses will once again be sent to the ‘Eastern Front’, which will inevitably lead to the deaths of Russian soldiers, but also of civilians,” Nechayev said. The ambassador accused Berlin of not doing justice to its historical responsibility for the Nazi crimes with this decision.

12:34 p.m.: Left leader Martin Schirdewan has sharply criticized the planned delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine. “With this decision, the chancellor has again fallen in favor of the arms supply lobby,” he told t-online. “By deciding to supply tanks, the Federal Republic is contributing to the spiral of escalation.” It is to be feared that one is moving further and further away from a diplomatic solution. “And many people in the country share this concern.”

Putin’s war must be stopped, Schirdewan continued. “But we have to get out of the military tunnel vision. Instead of delivering tanks, Scholz and Macron should finally get on the plane to Beijing, New Delhi and New York and start an international initiative for diplomacy and peace.”