Germany has run out of weapons for Ukraine, admits Defence Minister
Years of neglect – many with Ursula von der Leyen as chief – are now showing
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022
New German Defence Minister Lambrecht says she has no more arms to help the Ukrainians
Christine Lambrecht, the new German Defence Minister, has told a German newspaper that Germany can no longer deliver any military supplies to the Ukrainians fighting President Putin’s Russian invasion.
She told the Augsburger Allgemeine that any future supplies would have to come directly from German arms manufacturers, not from the Bundeswehr (German armed forces).
"In the case of deliveries from Bundeswehr stocks, however, I have to be honest, we have now reached a limit."
- German Defence Minister, Apr 2022
This follows recent comments from the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the German parliament, where he told them:
“We need aeroplanes that fly, ships that can set out to sea and soldiers who are optimally equipped for their missions. That is what is important.”
- German Chancellor, Bundestag, 27 Feb 2022
How did the EU’s No.1 economy and largest country get itself into this mess?
For many years the German media has been highly critical of their defence ministry and of their military’s ability to be of any use in NATO’s defence of western Europe.
Over the years Facts4EU.Org has researched and published numerous reports using NATO and official German government sources showing the sheer scale of the neglect of its military – in monetary and ministerial terms. We have also published stories about how few German air force jets are serviceable at any one time and about German soldiers turning up to NATO exercises without rifles.
With the new German defence minister’s admissions, it appears that all of these problems have come to a head – just when the Ukrainians need as much help as possible.
The responsibility of Ursula von der Leyen in all this
In 2019 the current EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was parachuted into Brussels by her boss, Chancellor Angela Merkel.
She had been moved from her then job as German defence minister which she held for six years from 2013 to 2019. (Photo left.)
During her tenure Mrs von der Leyen was regularly criticised in the German media as the Bundeswehr was rocked by scandals and allegations of corruption and incompetence.
It was not only the media who were critical. In the week before her appointment to the EU Commission, Germany’s former defence minister was scathing.
“The Bundeswehr’s condition is catastrophic. The entire defense capability of the Federal Republic is suffering, which is totally irresponsible.”
- Rupert Scholz, former defence minister under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, writing in July 2019
It took Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to wake Germany up
Three days after President Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed the Bundestag and announced a series of u-turns.
In particular he promised an extra €100 million euros for the military, a commitment that Germany would finally move to an annual spend of the NATO minimum of 2% GDP, and that consideration would be given to allowing other EU countries to send German-manufactured arms to Ukraine.
He also made a categoric statement:
“Anyone who reads Putin’s historicising essays, who has watched his televised declaration of war on Ukraine, or who has recently – as I have done – held hours of direct talks with him, can no longer have any doubt that Putin wants to build a Russian empire.”
Observations
There is no doubt that Germany is prepared to be very generous financially to Ukraine. The difficulty arises from the many years in which Germany failed to live up to its obligations.
While the United Kingdom was responding every year from Putin’s invasion of Crimea back in 2014, sending military supplies and training large numbers of Ukrainian troops, Germany was effectively ‘hors de combat’.
Germany’s sudden change of direction is therefore welcome.
Nevertheless, the German defence minister’s admission that the German military is now no longer able to send supplies to Ukraine is a damning indictment of its government’s priorities and actions over a great many years.
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Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 21 Apr 2022
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