German defense minister 'surprised' by lack of tank pledges from European partners

By Timo Kirez

BERLIN (AA) - German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is surprised to learn that among European partners, only Poland has pledged tank deliveries to Ukraine.

"I flew to Ramstein on my first day of work and expected to sit across from many representatives of nations who want an okay from me for the delivery of many Leopards to Ukraine," Pistorius told the news magazine Der Spiegel on Friday.

But instead, he said, there were initially no commitments for tank deliveries at all, except for Poland. "That surprised me, because I had expected otherwise after the public reporting," he said.

As things stand, Germany, together with Portugal, can only deliver 17 Leopard-2A6 tanks to equip a Ukrainian tank battalion instead of the 31 targeted, Pistorius added.

"The pledges did not come in the order of magnitude I had hoped for, which surprised me," the 62-year-old said.

However, according to the report, the minister does not want to rule out the possibility of Germany equipping the 2A6 battalion for Ukraine with additional Leopard tanks from Bundeswehr stocks.

Further deliveries of Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, however, are not possible, the German defense minister said. At the moment, he said, the Bundeswehr has only one of the systems left in Germany.

"If I give that out now, too, I won't even be able to practice," he added.