The Ukrainian ambassador has criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The promised tanks have not yet arrived in the country. News ticker.
- Germany’s role in the Ukraine conflict: Kyiv criticizes “second-rate treatment” after Scholz EU accession rejected in urgent procedure.
- Ammunition for Gepard tanks had to be found first: Strack-Zimmermann criticizes the federal government’s pace of arms deliveries.
- Weapons for Ukraine: Germany and Netherlands want deliver no more than twelve Panzerhaubitzen 2000.
- This News ticker on reactions from Germany to the Russia-Ukraine war is continuously updated.
Update from May 20, 1:32 p.m.: The pressure was obviously too great. Former Chancellor Schröder is giving up his position as head of the supervisory board at the Russian oil company Rosneft. According to a company statement, it was impossible for Schröder to extend his mandate.
Heavy weapons for Ukraine: Strack-Zimmermann criticizes the German government’s hesitation
Update from May 20, 10:10 a.m.: The chair of the Bundestag Defense Committee criticizes the slow pace of the federal government in delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine. “You wait too long – everything could have been delivered already,” said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann in ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin”.
According to the FDP politician, the self-propelled howitzers and Gepard tanks promised to Ukraine are only just being prepared for combat use. Ammunition had to be found for the cheetah.
Therefore, no large device has yet been delivered to the Ukraine. The war has now lasted almost 90 days, said Strack-Zimmermann. If the preparations had already started after four weeks, “we could have gotten everything started”.
Melnyk on arms delivery to Ukraine: “We have the impression that the Chancellor does not want to deliver”
Update from May 20, 6:54 a.m.: The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andrij Melnyk, has again accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of being hesitant to deliver heavy weapons. “We have the impression that the Chancellor does not want to deliver,” Melnyk told the editorial network Germany (RND, Friday). So far, neither Cheetah tanks, nor Leopard 1 or Marder have been delivered, he criticized. The announced exchange of rings with T-72 tanks for the Ukraine from Slovenia has also not worked out so far.
Berlin has meanwhile announced that it will make 15 Leopard 2 tanks available to the Czech Republic in a so-called ring swap in order to offset deliveries of heavy weapons from the NATO partner to Ukraine. “Delivery is scheduled to begin this year and will also include a 30-day supply of 120 mm ammunition,” the Ministry of Defense told the responsible officials in the Bundestag. The letter was presented to the German Press Agency on Friday.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has meanwhile proposed linking future reconstruction aid for Ukraine to reforms in view of the country’s desire to join the EU. “We will have to help finance the reconstruction of Ukraine anyway,” said von der Leyen on Thursday on the ZDF program “maybrit illner”. Then, in her opinion, it makes sense to say: “Yes to investments, but right away with the necessary reforms, for example against corruption or for example for establishing the rule of law.”
Update from May 19, 8:52 p.m.: For the time being, Germany and the Netherlands do not want to deliver more than the twelve 2000 self-propelled howitzers they have already promised to the Ukraine. During Chancellor Scholz’s inaugural visit to The Hague on Thursday, the two heads of government did not say when the first howitzers with a range of 40 kilometers could be delivered. The German Chancellor pointed out that the heavy artillery pieces “cannot be easily made available”.
Alongside the Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, the self-propelled howitzers are the first heavy weapons that Germany intends to deliver to the Ukrainian war zone. The Bundeswehr is also training Ukrainian soldiers to operate the modern guns.
Scholz rejects Ukraine’s rapid EU accession: “Not a matter of a few months or a few years”
First report: Berlin – In his government statement at the special EU summit at the end of May, Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected Ukraine’s accession to the EU in an expedited procedure. Scholz referred to French President Emmanuel Macron. He had previously pointed out that the entry procedure into the European Union was “not a matter of a few months or a few years”. In fairness to other accession candidates, there should be “no shortcuts” to the EU, Scholz said on Thursday morning (May 19).
The answer from Kyiv came promptly. Just minutes after Scholz’s speech ended, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that Ukraine did not need a “replacement for EU candidate status,” which shows “second-class treatment of Ukraine” and “the Feelings of Ukrainians hurt”. The “strategic ambiguity” practiced by some EU capitals in recent years in relation to Ukraine’s European perspective has failed and must be ended, said Kuleba with a view to his country’s EU accession. “That only gave Putin courage,” the Ukrainian foreign minister accused.
Ukraine conflict and arms deliveries: Chairwoman of the Defense Committee criticizes CDU leader Merz as “uninformed”
Following Olaf Scholz’s government statement on Thursday morning, CDU leader Friedrich Merz was critical. The Union faction leader accused the chancellor of “double play” in the Ukraine war because he promised military support for Ukraine but actually prevented deliveries of heavy weapons. “The truth is that almost nothing has been delivered for weeks,” says Merz. The announced ring exchange of weapons has also not taken place so far.
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag, Marie Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), sharply criticized Merz for his statements. “I’m surprised that Friedrich Merz said that,” said the FDP politician to the TV station Welt. “Friedrich Merz should have sat down with his defense politicians before his speech. Then he would know that the whole thing works. That we are training Ukrainian soldiers and that these heavy weapons are being prepared.” The CDU politician was “uninformed”, Strack-Zimmermann continued. “And I recommend a parliamentary group leader to ask his specialist politicians before he says something like that.” (bm with AFP/dpa)
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