German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided commenting on the contentious question of delivering Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine during his speech at the Davos World Economic Forum.
“We are continuously providing weapons systems to Ukraine, along with our partners,” Scholz said during his one-hour speech on Wednesday afternoon, listing some of the weapons that Berlin already delivered.
He also stressed that Russia must “fail” in order for the war to end.
But while many had looked to find out more from Scholz on whether Germany will approve the delivery of German-made tanks held by Poland and other allies interested in shipping them to Ukraine or whether Berlin might even provide battle tanks itself, the Social Democrat did not once mention the Leopards.
The Leopard 2 question is expected to be discussed during a NATO defence ministers’ meeting this Friday at the Ramstein US airbase in Germany. Here, Berlin will be represented by brand-new defence minister Boris Pistorius, who is set to be sworn in on Thursday after current minister Lambrecht announced her resignation earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s international partners to provide support more quickly during his speech.
“In this war, we sometimes only have a few seconds. This is why the whole world must become faster,” he stressed.
Kyiv has repeatedly called for the shipment of Leopard 2 battle tanks. However, any deliveries of German-made tanks by other countries must be approved by Berlin first.
While Vice-Chancellor Habeck has come out in favour of granting this approval, Scholz has not commented on the matter and the German government has not announced any decision.
(Julia Dahm | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
