In the meantime, there has also been a commitment from the USA: President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that the USA intends to provide the government in Kyiv with a total of 31 “M1 Abrams” tanks. A decision that Olaf Scholz in particular will welcome: The Chancellor had always stated that he did not want to go it alone when it came to supplying battle tanks.
While Scholz’s supposedly hesitant action was much discussed, large parts of politics now welcomed the Chancellor’s decision. Criticism, on the other hand, comes from left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht.
In an interview with “phoenix” she makes it clear that she considers the decision to deliver Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine to be fundamentally wrong.
“I think that’s extremely dangerous, and I’m worried that decisions like this will escalate this war more and more. You don’t end a war with more and more weapons,” explains Wagenknecht on “phoenix” and adds: “We are getting more and more drawn into this war. That is a completely wrong answer to this situation.”
Wagenknecht expresses concern that Germany itself will become a party to the war by supplying arms, but the federal government completely ignores this risk: “If you train soldiers, you are part of the war.”
Instead, the left-wing member of the Bundestag advocates taking diplomatic initiatives and striving for negotiations. “We have a virtual stalemate on the battlefield. Neither side can win, so there has to be pressure towards negotiations.”
The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has made it clear that he only wants to negotiate with Russia if Crimea is also liberated. “You can morally justify that, but it’s unrealistic,” says Wagenknecht.
Germany and the West would have to comment on which of Ukraine’s war goals they agree with and which they don’t. “Do we want the Leopard tanks to support an attack on Crimea? What is all this going to lead to, where is it all going to end? Scholz didn’t say anything about that in the Bundestag today,” criticized the left-wing politician.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned Germany against having Leopard main battle tanks delivered to Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz has now made the decision to do so. Is Putin now declaring Germany an enemy? Two Russia experts assess the situation online for FOCUS.
Pressure mounts on Germany to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Rheinmetall is now announcing that 29 Type 2A4 tanks could be ready by May. Russians and Ukrainians are currently fighting particularly hard battles near Bakhmut and Avdiivka. It is estimated that 180,000 Russian soldiers have already been killed or injured in Ukraine. All news about the Ukraine war can be found in the Newsticker.
The original of this post “Wagenknecht appalled by the delivery of tanks: “The war is escalating more and more”” comes from the Teleschau.
