“Leopard” tanks for Ukraine: reactions – politics

The government’s decision leopard– to deliver tanks to Ukraine and to allow third countries to do the same, which could be officially announced as early as Wednesday, has already provoked reactions at home and abroad.

“We will have everything. Everything for the return of our territories and the counteroffensive. Tankers will be happy, as will artillerymen and later also pilots,” said the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak Twitter. “President Zelensky’s entire team is working on this issue together with our partners. We thank our allies. We will win.”

In Berlin, CDU leader Friedrich Merz quickly spoke up, who attested to Olaf Scholz making a “right decision”, but also true to his role as leader of the opposition criticized. “But if the Chancellor had announced this decision with the French President on Sunday in Paris, that would have been political leadership. That leaves the image of a driven person who hesitated for too long,” said Merz.

The FDP politician and Chair of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who had sharply criticized the Federal Chancellor in the past few days, was pleased about the green light for leopard-Deliveries. “The decision to release and deliver the leopard 2 was tough but inevitable. It is news of salvation for the battered and brave Ukraine,” said Strack-Zimmermann. “We Free Democrats are grateful that continuous efforts for the people of Ukraine are successful.”

The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who since the beginning of the war had often sharply criticized what he saw as the government’s position being overly cautious, expressed his delight at the announced plans leopard-Deliveries on Twitter expression by posting a photo of himself with a German wheat beer. “Today I’m going to get drunk!” he wrote.

The acting Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Oleksij Makejev, said in the ARD-Topics of the day on Tuesday evening, he “thinks the tank coalition is just emerging these days.” When asked what he had to say to the significant proportion of Germans who are skeptical about such tank deliveries, Makeyev said he was already “trying to get in touch with German citizens to explain why it’s so necessary.”

The international press also took notice. For example, the British published DailyTelegraph its front page from Wednesday in advance on the Internet. The decision to supply “Leopard” tanks to Ukraine is described as a “heavy blow to Putin”.

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