Ukraine needs German tanks

The positive news from Friday’s 54-nation Ukraine defence contact group meeting is that Germany did not rule out providing Kyiv with the Leopard 2 advanced battle tanks that could be game-changers in the war against the Russian invaders. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Chancellor Olaf Scholz was weighing up the pros and cons of doing so. Mr Scholz insists Germany is “strategically interlocked” with the US and other allies and that decisions about weapons must be part of a collective effort. It could be another month before he made up his mind, Mr Pistorius said.

That response fell well short of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desperate plea for heavy tanks to repel Russia’s current advances. The failure to achieve unity sends the wrong message to the Russian despot about the West’s resolve. Eleven months ago, when he launched his assault on Ukraine, his calculation was that the West was too weak and divided to do much about it. Much of the world rallied and showed he was wrong. Germany’s reluctance to answer the plea for tanks and to remove re-export roadblocks for countries such as Poland, which has Leopard 2s it wants to send Ukraine, plays into Mr Putin’s hands at a critical time. Britain has led the way by dispatching 14 Challenger 2 tanks, but they are too few to make a difference on the battlefield. Germany’s Leopard 2s are best suited by far to replace Ukraine’s ancient, clapped-out Soviet-era tanks that are no match for Mr Putin’s armour. At least 2300 Leopard 2s are in warehouses across Europe, ready to be passed to Ukraine as it prepares for a likely spring offensive by Russia.

Military analysts say several hundred Leopard 2s could change the course of the war. Mr Scholz should ignore the “special relationship” predecessor Angela Merkel had with Mr Putin and provide the tanks Mr Zelensky needs. As US senator Lindsey Graham, visiting Kyiv, said: “Putin is trying to rewrite the map of Europe through force of arms. World order is at stake.”