The fact that Ukraine is set to receive main battle tanks is welcome. But the way the decision came about prolonged Ukraine’s agony, damaged Western unity and benefitted nobody except the man in the Kremlin
to withstand the next Russian offensive and to take back the territory that is theirs. And everybody knows that, sooner or later, the West usually ends up giving Ukraine what it needs.
Ukraine has been asking for German-made Leopards since day seven of the invasion, but Germany has not been willing to send any of its own, nor to give permission for other countries to re-export theirs. A long-overdue agreement on sending tanks had been hoped for when the Western allies gathered at Ramstein, an American base in Germany, on January 20th.
There is a sense in Germany that Mr Scholz has notched up a diplomatic victory. By digging in his heels, he has forced the Americans to offer 31 of its Abrams tanks. Neutral Switzerland, under German pressure, will now allow the use of Swiss-made ammunition. It is, some argue, a further success for Germany’s gradualist strategy, of increasing the calibre of arms supplies to Ukraine without provoking Russia into escalation.
Mr Scholz’s diplomatic victory is therefore pyrrhic. It came at the cost of the first big public spat between Ukraine’s allies. And the chancellor blocked the best possible outcome, which would have been for Ukraine to have got more Leopards much sooner.
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