MUNICH – Countries capable of sending battle tanks to Ukraine “really should do so now”, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, trying to drum up support for a Europe-wide fleet of tank donations.
speaking at the inauguration of Munich Security ConferenceA gathering of global political and security leaders, Scholz told “Germany accepts its responsibility for the security of Europe and the NATO alliance region, without ifs and buts.”
He added, “It is a responsibility that a country of size, space and economic power like Germany has to stand shoulder to shoulder in such times.”
The chancellor said Germany would “permanently” adhere to a NATO target of spending 2 percent of its economic output on defense – a goal that Berlin is currently ready to miss This year and probably next year too, despite a massive €100 billion special fund for military investment.
The chancellor said Germany needed to boost its defense industry and switch to “sustainable production of the most important weapons we use”.
Scholz’s comments came after his Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters in Munich, Germany, that Germany must commit to an even higher spending target in order to follow through on its security promises.
Pistorius said, “It should be clear to everyone: with just less than two percent it will not be possible to accomplish the tasks before us.”
Western allies are gathering in Munich for a series of high-level talks focused primarily on the war in Ukraine, a year after Russia invaded the Eastern European country.
Scholz said it would be “wiser to prepare for a long war” and to send a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that if he is relying on Ukraine’s Western allies he is “miscalculating” and will eventually tire of war. have happened and are retreating from themselves. military support.
The German chancellor said Ukraine’s allies should join Ukraine in delivering stocks of German-made, modern Leopard 2 tanks to Berlin, adding that his government would use the three-day Munich conference to “drive an intense campaign for this”. .
The German chancellor himself hesitated for months about sending the Leopard 2 tanks, changing only last month, when he vowed to form an international alliance that would give Ukraine 80 of the German-built tanks.
But he is struggling to meet that commitment, Some allies such as Finland are dragging their feet on tank donations, while others such as Portugal are not sending as many as Berlin had hoped.
Other countries such as Poland or Spain are only shipping an older version of the tank, the Leopard 2A4. Scholz said he expected “some more will join” Germany in sending the more modern Leopard 2A6.
Scholz also said that Germany would “do everything it can to make this decision easier for our partners,” offering to provide logistical support or training to Ukrainian troops on tanks. “I see this as an example of the kind of leadership everyone is entitled to expect from Germany – and I offer this clearly to our friends and partners.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, just before Scholz spoke warning Underscoring the German leader’s point that “speed is key”.