On his 5th trip abroad since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, marking their third in-person meeting. Their initial meeting lasted almost a minute before they walked off. Zelensky’s facial expression was friendly yet focused, reflecting the difficulty of Ukraine’s relationship with Germany as an ally.
During the meeting, Scholz presented Zelensky with a weapons package worth 2.7 billion euros, which includes armoured personnel carriers, older Leopard-1s, howitzers, armoured combat vehicles, reconnaissance drones, and ammunition. This marks the most extensive commitment by the federal government since the beginning of the war and signals a dangerous change in Germany’s approach to providing weapons to Ukraine.
Previously, Germany had only provided shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles in small quantities and with delay. Scholz had vehemently blocked the delivery of heavy weapons for almost a year until he promised self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers under pressure from the USA. Since then, Germany has promised 70 modern Leopard 2 tanks and over 100 Leopard 1 tanks.
This policy change is viewed positively both in Berlin and in Kiev, with Ukrainian government circles indicating that inquiries and requests from Kiev are now being treated more benevolently and constructively. The new weapons package is seen as the first step into a new era, but it could pose new problems for the Chancellor, as the new cooperative style of the meeting may make it more difficult to refuse further demands from Ukraine.
With the new weapons package, Germany will become Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of lethal weapons in absolute terms, with the direct military, humanitarian, and financial aid from the Federal Government for Kiev amounting to ten billion euros. This puts Germany ahead of the UK, which is spending 9.8 billion euros, according to the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The USA is providing even more aid with 71 billion euros.
During the meeting, Zelensky mentioned that Ukraine is planning on “creating a fighter jet coalition” and expects the German side to be part of supplying German fighter jets to the cause.
Scholz repeated the types of weapons that are currently being delivered leaving out any word of supplying fighter jets, but Zelensky still demands further deliveries of arms from Berlin. Scholz repeated his promise to support Ukraine for as long as necessary, and even after the counter-offensive, Berlin will continue to deliver weapons.
Scholz also promised to support Ukraine with its conditions for peace, including the withdrawal of Russian troops, during the G-20 summit in Indonesia. Zelensky expressed his hope that Germany would become Ukraine’s biggest supporter, even though Zelensky has parroted the same words on all the large NATO countries.
It seems Zelensky is drunk on power and he will not let anything get in his way of pulling NATO into a war that they can not win.
