The German government is not supplying tanks to Ukraine because it fears that Ukrainian troops could use them to invade Russia, reported Spiegel, citing its sources.

According to them, there is an informal agreement between the governments of the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom on the non-supply of tanks to Ukraine. However, this issue has never been discussed at NATO level. In addition, according to sources, Germany can not be the first country to decide to supply tanks “for historical reasons.”

Sources close to the German government say there are concerns that Ukraine could “become overconfident” if it gains a series of victories on the battlefield and decides to invade Russia — which would mean that German tanks will be inside Russia again.

“This concern underscores Berlin’s distrust of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” the journalists wrote.

In addition, Germany believes that there is no need to prepare armored vehicles for delivery. This means that if the United States does decide to send armored vehicles to Ukraine, the shipment itself will not happen quickly. Because the preparation for the departure of, for example, German infantry fighting vehicles Marder will take several months.

Supply of heavy weapons

Olaf Scholz refused to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons such as tanks and armored personnel carriers, citing agreements with NATO allies. At the same time, the country has barely supplied small arms since the end of March, Welt reported, citing documents available to the German newspaper.

The media reported that from March 30 to May 26, there were only two arms supplies from the federal government. In mid-May, Germany sent 3,000 anti-tank mines and 1,600 specialized targeted anti-tank mines.

It is worth noting that the first batch, sent to Ukraine a month earlier, contained only spare parts for machine guns, lighters, detonation cords, radios, hand grenades, explosives and mines.

According to the Ukrainian side, the last supply of anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons from Germany took place more than two months ago — on March 25. The aid included 2,000 Panzerfaust 3 missiles and 1,500 Strela anti-aircraft missiles.

https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/germany-does-not-supply-tanks-to-ukraine-as-it-fears-they-will-be-used-to-invade-russia-spiegel