Ukraine envoy says Germany showing more leadership on arms deliveries

Germany was initially reluctant to send heavy arms to Ukraine to help it confront Russia's invasion, fearing it might escalate the fight. But in January Berlin agreed to send its Leopard tanks and said it would work with allies to send more.

"What has changed in the last few months is we are not just discussing the current order of the day but we are strategically planning according to what is needed and what can be delivered," Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev told Reuters.

"There are no more excuses now but facts that we talk about."

On Friday, the Swiss government said Germany had asked it to sell some of its Leopard tanks back to arms maker Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE), which would allow the company to backfill gaps in the armaments of European Union and NATO members.

Makeiev's conciliatory words were in stark contrast to the harsh tone of his predecessor Andriy Melnyk, who regularly chastised Germany for not doing enough to help it fight off the invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

Germany's decision in January, made after the U.S. agreed to send its own M1 Abrams tanks, broke through one of the last taboos in Western support for Ukraine: providing arms that have a mainly offensive rather than defensive purpose.

At the time, Russia reacted with fury, saying Berlin was abandoning its "historical responsibility to Russia" arising from Nazi crimes in World War Two when Hitler's forces invaded the Soviet Union.


REUTERS