Germany ‘threatened with international isolation’ for refusal to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine
Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to demur on the matter and is provoking open expressions of annoyance from some of Ukraine's other allies, who were the first to raise the issue of transferring main battle tanks to Ukraine.
"Germany will be completely isolated if it does not give in and hand over the tanks," Mularczyk said.
Germany refused to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine during the most recent Ramstein NATO defense ministers meeting on Jan. 20, claiming it wants to coordinate actions with all allies.
Earlier, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that he would approve the transfer of Leopards to Ukraine if Washington supplied Kyiv with U.S.-made Abrams tanks, during a meeting with U.S. President John Biden on Jan. 18.
Read also: Baltic countries call on Germany to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible
Later, the German Defense Minister denied there were any conditions for transferring the tanks.
Despite the uncertain position of Germany, during his visit to Lviv on Jan. 11, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that Ukraine would receive a company of Leopard tanks as part of an international coalition.
His Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö also confirmed that his country could provide Ukraine with a "small number" of the tanks.
Still, Germany has dodged questions on the issue, reportedly waiting for the United States to provide backing.
However, Berlin still has the last word in this issue, as it has to approve licenses to reexport German-made weapons to third countries.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
