OUR Germany failed a historic test when it refused to send tanks to Ukraine as part of Friday’s Ramstein summit, according to comments received by Olaf Soltz today, Saturday, according to the extensive report of the British Telegraph.

Berlin’s failure to approve the export of modern Leopard tanks at a Friday meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany drew criticism at home and abroad.

“History is looking at us and, unfortunately, Germany has just been defeated,” said the chairman of the Bundestag defense committee. Marie-Anis Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the FDP, which is part of Olaf Solz’s coalition government, said Vladimir Putin would laugh at Germany’s indecisiveness. “At least it would be right to give our partners the green light,” he said.

About 15 European countries want to supply German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but they cannot without permission from Berlin.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Kyiv troops will begin training on Leopard tanks in Poland.

On Friday, Pistorius said Germany would not interfere with the “training” of the Leopards, suggesting that Berlin might even agree to send tanks.

“Every day we make it clear that there is no alternative to the decision on tanks,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly speech after the end of the Ramstein summit.

“In any case, you will help Ukraine with the necessary weapons and understand that there is no other option to end the war but to defeat Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the President of Ukraine, said on Saturday.

“Today’s indecision is killing more of our people. Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster”.

Before the Ramstein summit, Germany was under constant pressure from allies, including Britain, the US and other NATO allies such as Poland and Finland.

Britain promised Kyiv 14 Challenger tanks in an attempt to get Soltz to do the same, and Warsaw warned it could send 14 Leopards without German permission.

“Ukraine will get all the help it needs,” US President Joe Biden said when asked if he supported Poland’s intention to provide Ukraine with Leopard main battle tanks.

On Saturday morning, the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia issued a joint statement calling on Berlin “Now supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine.”

“This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe. Germany, as a leading European power, has a special responsibility in this regard,” they said.

On the other hand, in Moscow, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that Ukraine and Western Europe are the “direct heirs” of Napoleon and Hitler.

“So the war with them is a new Patriotic war. And victory will be ours. As it was in 1812 and 1945,” he said.

In the popular pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestiya, Sergei Ordzhonikhinze, a former director general of the United Nations and a senior Russian diplomat, said Germany’s guilt over Nazi crimes prevented it from approving the development of the Leopard tanks.

Military analyst Andrei Frolov argued that the decision not to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine indicated that European stocks were much smaller than in the past.

Source: Telegraph