German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Berlin won’t take the lead in sending heavy weapons and vehicles to Ukraine. Pressed to do so by officials in Kiev and from within his own government, Scholz insisted that he won’t take any “hasty action” that could broaden the ongoing conflict.
“I make my decisions quickly and coordinate them with our allies,” Scholz told German tabloid Bild am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday. “I am suspicious of hasty action and German solo efforts.”
The newspaper noted that Scholz’s phrasing indicates that as long as the United States and Germany’s other major allies are not sending Western-made battle tanks to Ukraine, Germany will not stand out and send such armaments to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime.
However, Scholz, a Social Democrat in office since December, has drawn intense criticism for not taking such a stand. Zelensky himself has asked Berlin to send armored vehicles and accused the German government of “earning [its] money in other people’s blood” by continuing to buy Russian oil and gas. Meanwhile at home, Scholz’s approval ratings have sunk, and members of his own government have publicly stated that Ukraine should be armed by the West, with no “excuses.”