Ukraine's ambassador in Germany confident Berlin to hand over Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv
Oleksii Makeiev, Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, is confident that sooner or later Berlin will change its attitude regarding the transfer of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Kyiv.
He said this in an interview with European Pravda.
According to Makeiev, the hope for the transfer of tanks is underway. He emphasised that Ukraine raises the issue of the supply of heavy armoured vehicles from the very first day of the Russian invasion.
"The president gave [us] the task to bring weapons to Ukraine in March. As a result, the Germans gave permission to send to Ukraine more than 60 BMP-1s, which belonged to Germany and were [stationed] in the Czech Republic. At the time, we also mentioned the Leopards during the negotiations: soon, it will be a year since Ukraine raised this issue," Makeiev reiterated, admitting that the German system is insanely rigid and it is difficult to change it.
"But what is happening now is what Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the Zeitenwende – the change of eras. The changes of eras do not happen instantly, but we are doing everything to accelerate such a change. And I am sure that the Leopards will. It is best that it happens as soon as possible, but I am sure that it will happen," the ambassador said.
At the same time, he referred to his own diplomatic experience and the fact that at first, Germany refused to provide Ukraine with most of the equipment from the list of requirements, which included Panzerhaubitze 2000, Mars MLRS, IRIS-T air defence systems, and Puma and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
"Then the answer was "no", but now we see that a large number of items from this list are already being supplied to us," Makeiev said.
The German government does not want to supply Leopard and Marder to Ukraine until such tanks are provided by other partners. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly emphasised that there would be no national initiatives in this matter.
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