Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated his determination to provide military support to Ukraine against Russia’s attack. He admired the courage of the soldiers, said Scholz on Thursday at the Putlos military training area on the Baltic Sea.

There, Ukrainians are trained on the anti-aircraft gun tank Gepard. The Chancellor also climbed into the military equipment and inspected it from the inside.

“The men who are here will defend their country. They will defend it against the terrible threat that Russia’s brutal war of aggression posed to Ukraine,” said Scholz, for whom it was the first time he attended this training program. “And we will continue to support them with our financial means, but also with the weapons that we can provide from Germany,” he said.

Again and again, Scholz – and also from the ranks of the traffic light coalition partners – is confronted with the accusation that he is acting too hesitantly and that the federal government must deliver more heavy weapons to Ukraine. Germany has already supplied many effective and heavy weapons, said Scholz in Putlos, citing multiple rocket launchers and the Panzerhaubitze 2000. Ukraine has the right to defend its own country and its own independence and sovereignty.

At the military training area on the Baltic Sea, a large group of Ukrainians will complete the six-week training session on the anti-aircraft gun tank organized by tank builder Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) over the weekend. An exact number is not given. However, the training is part of the German-funded delivery of 30 Gepard tanks to Ukraine.

Ukraine announced on July 25 that it had received the first three of these tanks and also tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition from Germany. More than three of the weapon systems have now been brought to Ukraine. The German side denies that Russia – as claimed – has already destroyed one or even several cheetahs with attacks.

According to earlier information from the industry, KMW had 50 of the decommissioned tanks in the yard, of which 30 are now going to the Ukraine. The company also makes the Panzerhaubitze 2000. The next necessary step for support is now to support the repair of handed over weapon systems. One plan is to open a “hub” – a hub for repairs – in one of Ukraine’s neighboring countries.

The cheetah is no longer used by the German armed forces. According to the Bundeswehr, it was primarily developed to protect the Panzer and Panzergrenadier troops from attacking aircraft and helicopters at low altitudes. The cheetah is also suitable for stationary protection against attacks from the air, for example from bridges or buildings.

The Bundeswehr only makes the military training area available for industry and closes the adjacent Baltic Sea bay for shooting operations. The Ukrainians were easily recognizable by their blue work clothes on Thursday. They were out and about with the KMW instructors in shooting operations.

A Learjet was circling in the air above the military training area. The machine pulled an airbag behind it on a leash three to four kilometers long. This represents the target. The bag has a built-in sensor that electromagnetically measures how close hits are to the target. The result is immediately radioed to the ground.

Short bursts of fire echoed from afar across the military training area. A “short burst of fire”, which is fired in fractions of a second, counts for six shots. The long burst of fire lasts two seconds. The tank has 680 rounds of ammunition on board. “Motivation is not an issue here. There’s no one trying to get out,” says KMW expert Thomas Fritzsch.