The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has again called for a speedy delivery of the weapons promised by Germany. He was satisfied with the recent announcement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to send weapons such as the Iris-T air defense system to Ukraine, said Melynk on Friday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “But if we’re honest, 100 days of war, up to now not a single piece of heavy equipment has been delivered to Ukraine from Germany.” The first weapons would probably not arrive until the end of June. “You see how precarious the situation is.”
On Wednesday in the Bundestag, the chancellor announced the delivery of the Iris-T and a locating radar to be used to detect artillery positions. Germany also wants to deliver four multiple rocket launchers from Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine.
In the past few weeks, the federal government had already made two commitments for the delivery of heavy weapons: 50 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks and 7 Panzerhaubitzen 2000 – modern artillery pieces with a range of 40 kilometers – are to be delivered to the Ukraine. But they haven’t gotten there yet. The opposition has repeatedly accused Scholz of hesitation in recent weeks.
Melnyk said on Friday Ukraine’s first goal was to retake the territories occupied by Russia for 100 days. Ukraine sees the superiority with which Russia is waging the war of aggression, one fifth of Ukrainian territory is occupied. It also remains the goal to bring back Crimea, which has been annexed since 2014.
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The President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk, is also urging the rapid delivery of the weapons promised by Germany to ward off the Russian attack. “Now it’s also about the decisions being implemented quickly,” said Stefantschuk to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The weapons must be delivered quickly.” He continued: “It is very important for us that the ice is broken and Ukraine has the chance to get the latest and most modern weapons from Germany.”
