Greens increase pressure on German chancellor over tank deliveries to Ukraine

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s Greens have increased their pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to send battle tanks to Ukraine.

"Especially now, before winter comes, we must support Ukraine in liberating as much of their own country as possible,” Green Party co-leader Omid Nouripour told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

The Greens are part of Chancellor Scholz’s three-way coalition government and holding key ministries responsible for economy and foreign policy.

Nouripour said Germany should provide further military support to Ukraine, and deliver more weapons as soon as possible.

“Everyone in the government knows that even more would be possible," he said.

Nouripour insisted that Germany should deliver weapons directly from the stocks of the Bundeswehr and industry, and not limit transfers to the so-called ring swap mechanism.

In the ring swap, Germany equips Eastern European NATO partners with Leopard main battle tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which in return hand over older Soviet-designed tanks to Ukraine.

Anton Hofreiter, an influential Green Party politician, also called for a speedy delivery of German Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

"Sooner or later, we cannot avoid supplying Ukraine with modern, Western-made battle tanks," he told Mediengruppe Bayern on Tuesday.

Russia, he said, had destroyed much of Ukraine's arms industry. At the same time, he added, the old Soviet tanks offered poor protection against Russian attacks.

"I think we should deliver Leopard battle tanks as soon as possible to prevent Ukrainian soldiers from dying unnecessarily,” he said.

Despite pressure from his coalition partner, however, Scholz seems to be unmoved.

On Monday, he evaded the question of the provision of Western battle tanks demanded by the Ukrainian government.

“It remains with the stance that the German government has taken since the beginning and that will also be our stance for the future, namely that there will be no German unilateral action," Scholz said in Berlin.

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht also warned against it. "So far, no country has sent Western infantry fighting vehicles or battle tanks to Ukraine - and the German government has already reached its limits when it comes to handing over weapons systems from Bundeswehr stocks," Lambrecht said on Monday.