With his announcement that he would deliver modern rocket launchers to Ukraine, Scholz earned the Ukrainian ambassador’s gratitude for a moment. But in the meantime disillusionment has apparently returned. Melnyk misses the right actions with the chancellor.
After his announcement of new arms deliveries, the Ukrainian government is urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to take appropriate action. The Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk told the “Tagesspiegel” that there was no clarity as to when the MARS multiple rocket launchers from Bundeswehr stocks would be delivered. “We expect the traffic light to quickly fulfill this promise because our troops need this weapon system most urgently to protect Ukrainian civilians from barbaric attacks by Russia.” The “enormous military superiority” must be broken urgently, Melnyk added.
In addition, one unit from the IRIS-T SLM air defense system is not enough. “We call on the traffic light to expand this project in the field of IRIS for the future, because in the medium term we need at least 10 more such systems, including ammunition, to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities,” said the ambassador. “It could become a game changer, it would set a precedent if Germany didn’t deliver old heavy weapons for the first time, but really modern ones.”
Scholz had promised that entire cities could be protected from attacks with these systems. It was developed by the Diehl armaments company in Baden-Württemberg. “We hope that the first system will be made available to the Ukrainian army by the end of October,” said Melnyk. “We are really confident that this deadline will be met thanks to a very close confidential cooperation with the manufacturer.”
In addition, the pugnacious diplomat insisted that the Panzerhaubitzen 2000, which had been promised for weeks, would be delivered first. “We hope that these seven Panzerhaubitzen 2000 will be delivered from Germany at the end of June. They are urgently needed because the Russians have and use twenty times more artillery systems.” This leads to enormous casualties on the Ukrainian side.
“We are therefore calling on the traffic light to also hand over more German self-propelled howitzers, as other NATO partners are already doing, such as Norway, which has long since delivered 22 similar M109 howitzers and which are already in combat use in the Donbass.” According to his information, the Bundeswehr would be able to quickly deliver many more Panzerhaubitz 2000, Melnyk argued to the newspaper. “We are also asking the traffic light to allow the purchase of 100 new self-propelled howitzers that could be delivered over the next few years. The corresponding offer from the armaments industry has been available to the traffic light for weeks.”
Melnyk therefore had little hope of a delivery of tanks. The federal government refers to informal agreements that the western NATO states will not deliver their own tanks directly to Ukraine. “We are very disappointed that the federal government has been blocking the delivery of 100 Marder armored personnel carriers and 88 Leopard 1 main battle tanks for 6 weeks. These could be delivered step by step immediately and directly from the manufacturer,” stressed Melnyk. “We don’t need ring trades that make things unnecessarily much more complicated.”
The Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov had previously reported on Facebook that the army had well-stocked ammunition arsenals, but without mentioning Germany as a supplier. According to him, the supplies are partly larger than at the beginning of the war due to deliveries from NATO stocks. More than 150 heavy 155 millimeter howitzers have already come from the west. In addition, about 50 guns of other calibers had arrived, the Ukrainian Defense Minister said. For these, the ammunition stocks were a good 75 percent of the stock at the beginning of the war. Dozens of Soviet-type rocket launchers and hundreds of mortars with the appropriate ammunition were also delivered.
Reznikov also reported the receipt of hundreds of Soviet-type tanks and armored personnel carriers and about 250 Western armored vehicles. Thousands of man-portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank systems and grenade launchers, and hundreds of drones, including dozens of attack drones, were also delivered. Coastal defenses have been decisively strengthened by “Harpoon” missiles.
According to the regional governor, Ukraine could quickly regain control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk with Western weapon systems. As soon as the Ukrainian army has long-range artillery, “to be able to duel with Russian artillery, our special forces can clear the city in two to three days,” said Luhansk governor Serhiy Gajdaj. The Ukrainian armed forces in Sievjerodonetsk are still “highly motivated” and the units are “all holding their positions,” Gajday said. Russia is constantly attacking the areas controlled by Ukrainian troops with artillery.
