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Ukraine will receive 40 Marder tanks from Germany.
Chiara SchlenzEditor News
After months of hesitation, Germany is delivering Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. After France and the USA also announced that they would supply the country with light battle tanks, 40 German Marder tanks will also be there, according to “Spiegel”.
After the USA, Germany is one of the largest military and humanitarian supporters of Ukraine. The hesitancy on the marten issue was all the more astonishing. The federal government under Olaf Scholz (64) has long hesitated – although the Bundeswehr has over 100 pieces. The logistics are too complicated, the training of Ukrainian soldiers too laborious, and the Russian reaction could be too violent.
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In addition, Germany, including the military magazine “Soldat und Technik”, justified the lack of a delivery with its own safety. After all, a Marder delivery would have meant that the Bundeswehr would have had to cancel a large part of the army-specific commitments to NATO for the next few years. To put it bluntly: If you are not in a position to offer NATO 14 infantry fighting vehicles, how are you supposed to give Ukraine 100 infantry fighting vehicles?
This narrative was stuck to for a long time, despite the full marten camp. The turnaround was all the more surprising. According to Berlin, none of the three partners was pressed to make a decision, but the argument that there would be no German tank going it alone was dropped for Scholz with the announcement by France and the USA. And without this foreign policy pressure, this decision would not have been made. Domestically, too, the pressure increased – especially on the part of the FDP.
«After the marten comes the leopard»Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, German defense politician
As important and correct as the tank deliveries are, they still have a bitter aftertaste, as “Focus” writes. How many Ukrainian soldiers could still be alive, how far could Ukraine have pushed back the Russian enemy, had the Western Allies made this decision earlier?
The deliveries promised by France, Germany and the USA mark a change in strategy in this respect: the US vehicle Bradley and the German Marder are not main battle tanks – but they are considered powerful enough to take on Russian tanks.
The hope – internationally, as well as in Ukraine – for further important tank deliveries is now all the higher. “After the marten comes the leopard,” writes Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (64, FDP), German defense politician, with a view to the German battle tanks of the same name. However, such a delivery is not planned at this time.