Germany on Saturday announced its largest package of military aid for Kyiv worth $2.95 billion, Berlin’s largest since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
According to Defense Post, the massive arms package includes 30 Leopard 1 tanks, Marder fighting vehicles, air-defense systems, and surveillance drones. The announcement came a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Berlin.
“I thank Germany for the largest military aid package since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “German air defense systems, artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are saving Ukrainian lives and bringing us closer to victory.”
Meeting with Zelensky in Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will support Ukraine “for as long as it is necessary.” The aid package is seen as a gesture to show the German government’s staunch support for Kyiv, as Scholz’s government has come under criticism for previously being hesitant to send heavy weapons, such as tanks.
Last year, Scholz said he wouldn’t arm Ukraine with tanks and planes because he was trying to prevent nuclear war. But his concern of escalation has waned, and dozens of German Leopard tanks have been delivered to Ukraine. Scholz’s government also approved Poland’s delivery of Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine that originally belonged to Germany.
Germany and its NATO allies have yet to pledge Western-made aircraft for Ukraine. While in Berlin, Zelensky said he was seeking Western jets during his tour of European capitals. “We’re now working on creating a coalition of fighter jets… today I will appeal to the German side to support Ukraine in this coalition,” he said.
Why do I feel there is a potential World War in the making?…
Patience Donna. This domino train still has some ways to go.
What do we do when the dominos fall?
Im afraid the process has already started little while back and nothing will stop this motion.
So we all.get to.bend over and kiss our collective ass goodby.What a happy thought.
As much as I hate the idea of an annihilation, think of it as a very shinny but thin silver lining thatβll come out of this.
The new weapons promised by Germany will not change the balance of power in favor of Ukraine. However, they will prolong the conflict in the country.
The US and its toadies seem to think they can actually win a world war. They are mistaken. Besides Israel the US has no friends anywhere.
Keep toking it helps the pain of what is coming that can not and will not be stopped
The sad part is that Germany discredited themselves with all good faith they had build with Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall because of U.S./U.K meddling. History always repeats itself. Youβd think Germany learned by now.
I’ve had the impression from the start that the US is strong-arming Germany in some way… the threat of taking out NordStream 2, for instance. Now it’s “In for a penny, In for a pound.”
It’s hard to believe that after the USA sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines and further deindustrializing Germany with supposedly “Russian” sanctions, that Germans will continue to support the current regime. The Belt and Road Initiative, here they come…
The German workforce is known for their compliance when fascists run things.
The B&R might be a good fit for them.
Here’s what happened to over $500 million worth of stuff (including DU)
Up in smoke…
There are rumors of a sudden increase in radiation following the destruction of whatever was on the rails at Ternopil. Depleted Uranium is the prime suspect. But I’m not ruling out π’π―πΊπ΅π©πͺπ―π¨,
Zelensky on his begging/demanding tour, that is all he knows how to do. All for a big, fat paycheck.
he is the leader of a nation under attack. It is his duty to so and he is doing it well. There would be no Ukraine today if he didn’t beg for lethal assistance.
Germany aiding Nazis .. WTF ?
Germany is aiding Ukraine, not Russia which is where the real and most Neo Nazis are sitting.
Hahaha … Whatever π
Sofa change compared to what we are blowing over there and it isn’t even in our neighborhood.
I’ve heard that Leopard 1 tanks are outdated.
I think EU leaders believe their own propaganda. This level of commitment suggests that they think if Russia takes Ukraine, it really will reestablish the Soviet Union. (That’s remarkably simplistic thinking.)
I suspect that they have already cut out the fat and are now drawing on equipment reserved for defense.
Russia has to survive to accomplish its new objective, which is to demilitarize NATO. But Putin has had an answer for everything NATO has thrown at him so far. He might even be hoping they will send more.
To put it mildly, but then the so is the T55.
Yes to some degree but not the Leopard 1’s were ‘basically’ taken from museums in some cases literally so.
How do you see Putin as having an answer to everything NATO has thrown at him? The Russians have basically lost more territory since Himars were introduced – and are now potentially going to lose even more. NATO has given the Ukrainians mostly their old stuff and are gearing up to produce to a much higher level by the end of 2023.
I do not know if the Ukrainians will keep on fighting, but nothing suggests that Putin is able to match NATO levels of production – and that while NATO is not actually producing at a war level footing.
I should have said Putin wants to demilitarize NATO with respect to Ukraine. He used to say he wanted to demilitarize Ukraine. But on Victory Day, he made it clear that he thinks Russia is fighting NATO and its “puppets in Kyev.”
For Zelensky, territory is the top priority. For Putin, the priority is to remove AFU troops and equipment. In their last counteroffensive, Ukraine seized large swaths of territory. But they lost thousands of men, artillery, and armored vehicles doing it. Ukraine keeps asking for more weapons because Russia has destroyed so many of the weapons already sent.
NATO didn’t expect this. The supply of replacements is not sufficient to keep up with their losses. Biden is out of draw-down, and has had to fall back on manufacturing… which won’t be able to meet demand for several years.
It’s true, NATO can ramp up over time. But I don’t think it will be soon enough to help Ukraine.
He might achieve that the Ukrainians would accept a peace proposal, fighting them until they have depleted what NATO can send them is not a realistic option.
The loss of equipment has been made up for AFAIK, the loss of men is not documented, but at least in Kherson it was substantial – from the best available sources the Russians are losing more men than the Ukrainians, but then they can afford to do so – you may not believe this but the Ukrainians appear to believe it.
You are right and you are wrong, right in the sense that losses and expenditure are at a higher rate than production as it was up until late 2022, wrong in the sense that production is being ramped up and will soon surpass the rate of expenditure.
I think the more relevant question is which party will first believe that the cost in human lives is not worth it.
As far as I know the Ukrainians have more of most equipment types now than they had at the start of the war – you can make the argument that they might run out of AA missiles, but for just about every other category they have more than they started with – if you have recent figures that point to a different conclusion then I’d be interested in looking at them.
The main problem for the Russians is that they have failed to provide the Ukrainians with a palatable alternative to fighting them – again you may not believe this is indicative of what the Russians would actually do, but as long as the Ukrainians believe it there is not much to indicate that they would be willing to stop trying to take back their land much less end their resistance.
The Russians are in the provided clip debating how many Ukrainians they will have to kill (post winning the war) to change the way the Ukrainians (dare) think about being ‘Russian’. Not exactly the kind of thing that motivates your opponent to stop fighting even if they were losing.
Truth is the first victim of war. So, it’s very difficult to know who has lost what and who still has enough men, munitions, and equipment to keep fighting. Let’s come back to this in 6 months.
Absolutely agree, we simply do not have enough information to judge the losses in especially men – for equipment we have some estimates, but fairly poor ones as it is very difficult to know what what equipment can be repaired/recycled and what cannot.
After Russia hit a munitions dump there was a Gamma radiation spike in Khmelnytskyi. As explosions rocked a munitions depot in Ukraine the resultant fire had to be remotely extinguished by robots,
Experts believe that depleted uranium munitions were stored there. Shame on Rishi Sunak and his Government, Shame on the UK, Shame on NATO, shame on all the Western powers.
This criminal insanity has to stop. Arrest all Western Leaders and send them to the Hague. This is beyond Evil.