Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj calls on Olaf Scholz to take a clearer stance on the Ukraine war.
“We need Chancellor Scholz to assure us that Germany will support Ukraine. He and his government have to make a decision,” he said in an interview with the ZDF “heute-journal” in Kyiv on Monday. It should not be attempted to create a balancing act between Ukraine and relations with Russia. Russia attacked the neighboring country at the end of February.
“Germany came a little later than some of our neighboring countries in terms of arms deliveries. That’s a fact,” criticized the head of state. The first to take action were the USA, Great Britain, the Baltic States and other eastern EU countries. Initially, Germany and France only supported Ukraine politically and rhetorically.
Recently, the Ukrainian side has often denounced the fact that Germany is too hesitant to deliver arms that it has already promised to Ukraine. According to a media report, hopes are now pinned on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s forthcoming visit to Kyiv. The Ukrainian government is hoping for concrete promises for an immediate delivery of German tanks.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andrij Melnyk, asked Scholz to promise Leopard battle tanks and Marder armored personnel carriers, as he told the German Press Agency. And an adviser to Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed 1,000 heavy artillery pieces (howitzers), 300 multiple rocket launchers, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones to win the war against the Russian invaders.
